Love Never Truly Dies
by ninja-of-pasta
Summary: When Kurt finds a mystery that Dalton is still trying to recover from, Blaine and him set out to solve it. However, there is much more than dust and cobwebs that they've got through, including someone who wants to make sure they never learn the truth.
1. Prologue

A high pitched scream rang out loud and clear, filled with terror. Christina Monroe, who had woken only an hour before and was now cramming for a history exam she had later that day, looked up, startled from the sudden racket.

Seconds later, another horrified scream resonated from outside, coming from the campus below her third floor window. Thinking the worse, she threw her books into her bag and ran out her doorway. Other students, whom had obviously heard the screams, now ran beside her, questioning each other on what was happening. More screams traveled to them, making them all rush towards where they presumed it was coming from. Christina's freckled face contorted into a look of pure fear.

Her strawberry-blonde curls bounced around her round face as she and her fellow classmates sprinted to the center of campus, where the giant bronze statue of Thomas Dalton stood. The statue shone in sunlight, the dagger that it held acting as a large sundial. As old as Dalton Academy was, the statue showed the founder in his early twenties and was about 5 stories high with a hallow inside so that it could be maintained. A group of students dressed in required uniforms stood along the small set of stairs along the bottom of the gigantic figure.

Christina's ears started to ring from the wails and sobs that now mixed in with the screams that kept coming. As she came closer to the large herd of people, she noticed a blurred figure at the top of the bronze man. Was someone going to jump? Christina quickened her pace (if that was even capable, as she was running as fast as she thought was humanly possible) and pushed herself into the crowd of navy and red.

"Move, move!" Christina shouted, shoving people out of her way.

Eventually she made her way to the front and tilted her head up to see who was at the top.

Oh. Oh god no. At the top of the statue, where Thomas Dalton held up his dagger, was the body of a girl. And she, as gruesome as it was, was impaled on said dagger. Streams of blood covered the metallic arm beneath her and splattered against the victim's uniform. Enough of the red liquid had emptied from her body that it had trickled down to the ground below, dripping at a sickening pace.

Christina suddenly felt nauseous. She dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms across her stomach, willing herself to not vomit in front of her peers. Others cried and allowed themselves to be sick in the view of their fellow students. Tears started to cover her face as she tried to not look at the blood pooling in front of her. One of her friends, Mioko, the foreign exchange student for the year, came over to her, wrapping her thin arms around Christina's torso.

She rocked her back and forth, whispering soothing words in her native tongue. Teachers came around, pulling students back, or in some cases, helping them from where they were a lifeless pile of limbs. Mioko's arms left her, making her feel cold and lifeless when another pair of arms picked her up. They were stronger and lifted her bridal style. Christina looked up to see the green eyes of her boyfriend, Emmett O'Malley. His scruffy light hair still had small drops of water from his morning shower. He smiled sadly, acting stronger than he actually was.

Christina sniffed, tears trailing down her face. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head into the fabric of his blazer, hoping it would drown out the sound of her sobs. Emmet shed a single tear before walking away from the crowd to take Christina back to her dorm room.

The police arrived minutes later along with a firetruck to get the body down. It was a shock to the poor man that had been awarded the task to get the body down to realize that the victim was none other than the dean's daughter, Anna Matthews, her throat slit and her heart impaled by the metal dagger. More officers had to be called up to lift her body over the blade and back down.

Her slender, limp body was placed on a carrier and carted into the ambulance that had arrived. The sounds of the sirens fading was the only sign that the outside world was okay, though none had the heart to venture from their rooms. When news hit Christina that it was Anna Matthews' body at the top of the statue she cried harder than she ever had. Her best friend, dead. She even remembered saying goodbye to Anna the night before when they had parted ways after spending hours in the North Corridor study hall.

The Dean, Ethan Matthews, along with the entirety of Westerville, was devastated.

The next day, an article about the incident was printed across the front page of the Westerville Daily.

_Yesterday, at 8:37 a.m., the body of Anna Matthews was found at the top of the statue of Thomas Dalton at the prestigious Dalton Academy for the Significantly Gifted. Morticians concluded that cause of death was an impaled heart, along with a slit throat. So far there has been no leads on who the culprit is, but police have yet to give up. Anna Matthews was the charismatic daughter of the Dean of Dalton Academy, Ethan Matthews. _

_Due to these recent events, Dalton Academy will be closed for the next few weeks. It is believed that Dalton Academy will be turned into a single-gender school, while another academy will be built across the way from it._

_The funeral for Anna will be held the following Saturday for family and close friends of the Matthews' in Westerville's Bleeding Hearts Cemetery. The Westerville Daily sends its condolences to the Matthews' family._

But that dreary morning, as a lifeless body was carried off, someone let out a soft chuckle as they looked out onwards from their dorm. The tears had fooled them, and now they could finally be happy without that horribly, preppy girl. Now they could live their own life in peace.

And across the way in the North Corridor study hall, which was vacant of any life, a pair of eyes followed the carrier that had had a blinding white sheet thrown over it. It was quite a surprise to Anna to watch her own body be carted away.


	2. Chapter 1

Kurt was lost. Completely and utterly lost. The halls of Dalton seemed to intertwine together to form a maze of canvas walls and decorative flooring. Paintings of unknown faces watched him as he strolled down the empty main hall. On either side, oak doors led to smaller halls where other students were either studying notes or quickly typing away on their laptops. He spotted a few of his fellow warblers heading out and gave gentle waves to them, but didn't speak. After a few minutes, he had travelled to the near end of the hall. Clutching his messenger bag, Kurt glanced down the open hall to his right. No Blaine.

Blaine had told him during lunch that day to meet him in the common room of the North corridor before they meet for Warblers practice which was at 4:30. But now it was quickly crawling towards 4:10, and Kurt hadn't seen high nor hair of Blaine. Kurt began to unconsciously fix his fringe. If he was late for practice, Wes would most likely yell his ear off and hit him in the head with that atrocious gavel.

He sighed. Even if Dalton had a zero-tolerance policy, that didn't mean Kurt missed the freedom he had at McKinley. He missed being able to say what he wanted, wear what he wanted, and act how he wanted. He even missed Rachel and her daily rants during glee club. But Dalton was safe for him and he had Blaine, who had helped him so much during the past couple of months. Which reminded him…

Kurt sighed and stepped forward to check the last two doorways, one closed and one opened. He wished Blaine would have been more specific on where he wanted to meet. Straightening out his navy blazer, he glanced out the large window that almost took up the whole wall that ended the main hall. It was March at the moment, so what once was pure white powder had turned into a mix of dirt and frozen water, dead grass trying to escape its grasp. Kurt was silently reminded of a horrid slushie.

Checking his watch again, Kurt realized that he had only 15 minutes left until practice would begin. He let out an exasperated sigh. It would take a good 5 minutes to speed walk from there to the main building, where the warbler practice room was located. If Blaine made him late, he would make sure to steal his supply of hair gel during the night. Stupid Blaine. Stupid, handsome, dapper Blaine. 'Ugh', Kurt thought.

Since the open hall to his left was currently home to what appeared to be a mass paper airplane competition, Kurt decided to take refuge in the closed one. He opened the door to a dusty looking hall. Raising a perfectly, plucked eyebrow at the obscene amount of dust, Kurt tentatively walked to the lone table that stood next to the wall in the middle room. Two Victorian styled chairs sat around the table, the gold paint peeling off and the red satin fabric beginning to rip at the seams. Sweeping off dust from one of the chairs and part of the table, he sat down and placed his satchel on the old table. Dust floated up, and the small particles shown in the tiny beams of sunlight that were able to make it through the thick, tattered, maroon curtains. Kurt scrunched his nose and willed himself to not sneeze. Kurt looked around the room in question. Stacks of moldy books stood against the opposite wall and a lone lamp that Kurt couldn't help to think was tacky had a half torn shade on it.

Other than the obscene amount of dust and the slightly decrepit furniture, the hall appeared to be just like the many other halls in the North corridor. Kurt should know, he had searched each one in hopes of finding Blaine. Why did it look like no one had set a foot in there for twenty years?

Suddenly, the torn curtains fluttered up which cause Kurt to jump in his lumpy seat. His eyes surveyed windows to see if a lock had broken open or if a panel of glass had been shattered years ago. But he saw nothing. Kurt decided that maybe an air vent had created a small gust of wind. He checked his watch for the third time and realized that he only had 7 minutes until practice. Lifting himself from the rotting armchair, he began to walk back to the door that lead back to the main hall. Blaine had probably forgotten or had looked for Kurt and then decided that maybe he himself had gone to practice without him. He grasped the bronze knob and turned-

"Hello", a small petite voice echoed throughout the empty space.

Kurt froze, his hand resting on the doorknob. Slowly, he turned and saw…no one. Absolutely no one. He stared, and stared, and stared for god knows how much time, and he knew he was going to be late and he would be lucky if David held Wes back from throwing his gavel at his head repeatedly. But he swore he heard the voice of a girl. A real girl. Not a horridly, faked voice of a girl that could come from any of the many boys at Dalton. A real, freaking girl.

"H-hello?" Kurt stuttered out, his eyes wide from the terrible suspense.

He waited. Nothing. Letting out a shaky breath, he twisted the handle and headed off to the warbler practice room.

Blaine had apparently set a text off to Kurt beforehand, telling him he would meet him at the practice instead of the common room. Unfortunately, Kurt's phone had gone dead before he had received it, and that was why Wes had nearly bitten his head off. Ever since Sectionals, Wes had gone on a rehearsing rampage, forcing all the warblers to practice the sound 'jenga' so many times they could repeat it in their sleep to the tune of their alarm clocks. It was becoming a problem.

It had been a few days since the illusive 'curtain' incident, as Kurt had named it. He was back in the North corridor, a different hall than before, studying for his future English test that was mostly based on European writers. Dalton Academy had way higher academic expectations that McKinley had. As far as Kurt was concerned, he could sleep through a semester of their French class and still get an A. But now, the possibility of not getting perfect grades was catching up on him.

The other wooden chair at the table he was working at was pulled out, another person sitting down. Kurt looked up and saw Blaine, wearing a blazer-sweater vest combo, holding up two cups of coffee and looking at him with a closed-mouth smile.

"Hey" Blaine said, handing Kurt the grande non-fat mocha and setting his medium drip on the table to get out his own satchel. Kurt took a greedy sip of his coffee and watched as Blaine retrieved his AP History textbook, laying it out on the table, searching for a specific page.

"Hey yourself. You know, the amount of coffee we consume makes it look more like an addiction."

"Well, as long as I don't have to go to rehab for it, I will live my life with this horrible addiction."

Kurt chuckled and took a sneaky glance back at Blaine's hazel eyes. He could never quite figure out the precise color of them; sometimes they were gold, others brown, even green at one point. It frustrated him to no end.

Kurt turned back to his notes on romantic themes and continued to study. Silence filled the space between them as they sat, reviewing information and sipping coffee.

Eventually Kurt got to the point where he had thoroughly reviewed all topics for his test and sat back to doodle in his leather notebook, watching Blaine as he studied.

The gel that locked his wild curls in place had started to disintegrate over time, letting a few loose strands escape. He sat still, leaning his head on his right hand, eyes intensely focused on the large textbook in front of him. Kurt looked him over once, and then returned back to outlining the red heart he had drawn back in February.

As he started on a messy sketch of an admittedly fabulous outfit, his mind wandered to the previous events of last week. He chuckled at himself. Like a girl could actually get into Dalton without be spotted. Ha. It was probably a speaker system hooked up to one of boys' girlfriends. Poor girl, trying to talk to someone and her voice just ending up echoing in an empty hall.

"What?" Blaine smiled over at him from his side of the table, the kind of smile that made Kurt's heart skip a beat or two.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about this horrible prank that I witnessed last week."

"Was it on you?" Blaine asked seriously. His face had gone stone-cold, now completely focused on Kurt.

"No, just a poor witness to it. I suppose someone linked a speaker into the hall I was in to his girlfriend's phone, and her voice was coming out in there. Kind of ridiculous if you think about it, really. The place looked like no one had been in there in more than twenty years."

Blaine sat back and looked at him with bewildered eyes. "What did she say?"

"Not much, just hello. I was kinda in a rush to get to practice because a certain soloist doesn't think things through." Kurt tried his best to scowl, but ended up turning into a playful smirk.

"Not my fault that someone didn't charge their phone the night before. You really have to work on that, no wonder you have so many un-answered messages, your phone is always dead."

Kurt playfully slapped Blaine's shoulder, his face full of fake shock. "Ah, you watch yourself Anderson, or those beloved canisters of hair product will be gone like that" Kurt said, snapping his fingers for emphasis.

Blaine returned the gesture with a wrist-flip and laughed. "Hm. Where was that hall anyway, I want to make sure I don't become another witness to this terrible display of tomfoolery."

Kurt let out a hearty laugh and he could've sworn he saw Blaine's eyes twinkle a little. "Um, if my mental map is correct, I believe it was the right doorway at the end of the main hall."

Blaine's body seemed to freeze up in an instant. The pencil he had been twirling aimlessly in his left hand had dropped to the floor and had rolled under the table. His face had hints of fear and it began to freak Kurt out a bit.

"T-he right one? At the end of the main hall?"

"Yeah" Kurt said slowly, "It was the only one that was actually really empty, and I still don't really know anyone here besides you and the warblers but-"

"K-Kurt, no, it's not- ugh." Blaine had started to mess with things while he thought of what to say; the loose strand above his eyes, the lapels of his blazer, the pages of notes scattered across the hardwood surface.

"Kurt," He said seriously, making Kurt jump in the fluffy armchair that he sat in. "Dalton Academy has been open since the 1920s. Back then… it used to be a co-ed private school."

He raised a manicured eyebrow at this. "Wait, so Dalton used to have both boys and girls?"

"Yeah, that's why we have so many unnecessary buildings on campus. The amount of left over dorms after the girls left kinda set off the balance of the whole place."

"Well that explains why everyone pretty much has their own apartment and why the school has 2 art galleries… but wait? After the girls left? Were their problems between them and the boys?"

Kurt had always considered himself an honorary girl and during his time at McKinley, he had seen his fair share of gender-wars. However, most of these wars had always started in the glee club and had almost always ended in some form of sappy apology. The only exception of this rule was the first war, which ended in them all getting in trouble for taking vitamin D that Mr. Schue's deranged ex-wife had given them. But never could he think that a gender-war could result in one side being forced to leave their school.

"No, no problem between them. Just, uh, j-just an incident occurred." Kurt began to freak out. An incident? No girls at Dalton? Blaine stuttering? This was beginning to just add up to something he wasn't quite sure he wanted to hear.

"An incident? W-what kind of…incident?" Kurt questioned.

Blaine looked at him, fear clouding up his eyes. He let out a sigh and brought the palm of his hand to smack himself in the forehead. "Why didn't I tell you when you transferred here? I should've told you while I was giving you the tour. Why? Oh, I know, because I'm an idiot."

"Blaine!" Kurt reached out and grasped the hand that was currently smacking Blaine in the head. "Blaine" he repeated more calmly, "we have always been honest with each other since day one. You know you can tell me anything." He kept his blue eyes locked on Blaine's, rubbing his thumb over his knuckles.

Blaine let a shaky breath. "A girl. A girl, she was…"

"Blaine, please…"

Blaine tried to look anywhere that wasn't at Kurt. Tears seemed to begin to prickle the edges of his eyes and his breathes were coming out in short gasps. "Sorry, just, everyone at Dalton just gets attached to it eventually. They feel like it's more a part of them, you know."

"Yeah, I've been there." Back at McKinley, New Directions wasn't just a group, it was family to Kurt. Even if some of that family he could barely stand.

"…A girl was killed. On campus."

Kurt's breathing hitched. Ever since the death if his own mother, the thought of death itself made him feel extremely uncomfortable. But death at Dalton? Dalton Academy had always seemed like the safest place in the state of Ohio. And the simple thought that blood could ever be shed there shocked him to his core.

"Everyone just woke up one day, went out on campus and there she was, dead."

"W-what do you mean 'there she was'?"

Blaine took in another shaky breath. "The statue in the center courtyard. She was…"

Tears started to stream down both Kurt and Blaine's faces. The comforting warmth of each other's hands was the only thing keeping them from completely breaking down.

"She was on the statue, the dagger that Thomas Dalton holds. Struck right through the heart and a slit throat. I think slitting her throat was some kind of sick form of jealous venting. The girl was apparently a singing prodigy when she was…you know, alive.

"The point is, Kurt," Blaine said, gripping Kurt's soft, slim hand in his more firmly. "They say, when she died, she never really left. That's why no one ever goes in that room, because some still believe that her soul still lives there. I don't quite know why that specific hall."

Kurt stared at Blaine for a few minutes after the story. Blaine was shocked when Kurt suddenly burst into a fit of giggles. "Blaine, I'm sorry, but what? I feel terrible about the death of a girl here but a ghost? Ghost aren't real, Blaine. Please, tell me you don't believe that."

Blaine looked away to the floor and his mouth turned into a thin line. "…I honestly don't know, Kurt. Jeff went in there once, just to see if the rumors were true. The next day he wouldn't talk to anyone, even Nick. And then when he started talking again, he kept going on about a pale, white face that was trying to whisper to him. But then again it was Jeff so…"

"Blaine," Kurt said, removing his hand to wipe away the left over tears. "You know not to actually listen to Jeff, just nod your head and smile. I'm not saying I don't believe you, it's just…Ghost are kind of a tall tale to me, like my non-existent belief in God. The thought that after you die, you can still be here is a bit hard for my brain to wrap around."

Blaine looked back to him, a small smile forming on his face. "Yeah, maybe your right. Jeff does chug about 5 energy drinks a day." Blaine reached into his blazer pocket and took out his gold pocket watch. "Oh, crap. Warblers practice starts in 10. We better hurry up if we don't want Wes to behead you. Seriously, someone needs to give him a sedative or something."

Kurt laughed as he placed his notes back into his bag. "Blaine, Wes doesn't just need a sedative; he needs an all expense paid trip to Mexico. Though, somehow I still think he would be able to coach us from a beach chair, sipping on a fruity drink."

"Oh great, now I have that visual in my head. And even worse, now David is there, pretending to drown so the woman lifeguard will come and save him."

"Oh god," Kurt said, opening the door that led outside. "Is it sad that I can actually see that happening in real life?"

"No," Blaine replied, tying his scarf around his neck. "I can see it too. They are kind of insane when the whole 'must win or you will all die' aspect of their lives isn't involved." They continued on with their conversation but never came back to the death, even if it was still floating around in the back of their minds.

Kurt was in his dorm room a couple days after his and Blaine's talk. He laid flat on his stomach, arms crossed, reading his pre-calculus textbook trying to find the correct equation to solve the problem he was currently working on. But he just couldn't concentrate. He sighed and closed the thick book, rolling onto his back. He traced invisible lines on the ceiling with his eyes and listened to the miniscule ticking of the small grandfather clock Nick had given him for Christmas as his secret Santa.

He knew it was stupid, but his train of thought kept on coming back to the hall he had visited not longer than two weeks ago. Kurt did not believe in ghost, and he most definitely did not actually listen to Jeff, but…Maybe he should just go in there and prove to everyone that ghost do not exist and that room is perfectly fine and should seriously be cleaned before something grew from the large amounts of dirt and began a mass attack on the students of Dalton. And he would rather like his fellow students to continue their lives filled with sing- a-longs and pillow fights than in the belly of an unknown beast.

Kurt got up from the navy comforter and slipped back on his loafers. He then grabbed his black pea coat and walked out of his room. He didn't hear the mysterious, random noises coming from the other rooms as walked down the hallway to the exit that lead outside; all he could hear was his own heart beat, pounding inside his ears as he was hit by a sudden wall of wind.

The nice weather of March had only lasted for so long; now it was a never ending tirade of wind and rain. Still, Kurt trotted across the wet concrete towards the North corridor.

When he reached inside of the massive building, it was almost completely empty. The nasty weather had caused even the most adventurous of the Dalton boys to want to stay in their dorm rooms and drink hot coco. The last few stragglers were caught off guard by the entrance of Kurt, but quickly enough went back to packing their own things.

Kurt undid a few buttons from his pea coat and shuck off a few drop of water that had started to fall outside. Unconsciously he fixed his hair, which had been mussed by the strong wind, as he walked down the main hall.

Every step created a haunting echo as he made his way to the last door to the right. The faces painted on the canvas walls seemed to be following him, watching his every move. The door came into his line of vision; Kurt grabbed the bronze doorknob and yanked it opened.

The dust that had settled since his last visit rose from it resting place, swirling in the air. Kurt strutted into the vacant room, pulling the door closed behind him. He quirked a manicured eyebrow and did a 360 view of the room. Nothing had changed except for the dislocation of the layer of dirt that lay on the permanent layer of grime.

"Pfft." Kurt had suspected it. The whole student body of Dalton was being forced to avoid a single hall because of one old, silly rumour. Kurt inwardly laughed to himself.

The maroon curtains had been flipped open from the wind whistling through the cracks that lead outside, revealing the storm that was occurring. Large, maple trees and tall, dark evergreens that surrounded the red-brick institutes smacked and scratched across the surfaces. Students who had tried to continue their daily routines now were seen scuttling like bugs, trying to return to their warm, cozy beds.

"Try to fool Kurt Hummel, uh?" Kurt said to himself even if he knew it wasn't exactly the healthiest habit. He placed his hands on his hips and started to strut around the hall.

"Well let me tell you. I, Kurt Hummel, am no fool. I am a straight A student, a phenomenal singer, a fantastic actor, and am able to tell what is real and what is not. And that doesn't just include Sam Evan's natural hair color."

Kurt felt predominately proud of himself, but decided that lounging in a dirty hall was not the best way to spend his afternoon. Kurt scoffed, and then turned back to the door with the rustiest hinges he had ever seen.

He had just grabbed the knob and was about to walk out when it happened again.

"Hello there, Kurt."

Kurt let out another exasperated sigh. "Okay, where the hell is that sp-?" he said as he turned to look for the supposed speaker. But he never finished the sentence.

When he had turned, he had expected to wreck the hall in search of the retched speaker. What he saw was most definitely not on his list of 'things I will see when I turn around. Ever.'

The girl in front of him was pretty, he had to admit. Maybe even prettier than the vicious Quinn Fabray, but he couldn't be sure since he hadn't seen her since Sectionals. She had checks that were hallow and high, her face framed by dark brown locks. She wore a Dalton blazer, similar to the one that many of the males of the school seemed to almost live in. But all of her bottom half was completely different than the strict code of the Academy. She had a red and navy plaid skirt that ended right above a pair of knee high white socks, Mary Janes on her small feet.

He would've asked her why she was there, how she had gotten into Dalton Academy for Boys, why she was dressed so similarly to Rachel Berry because, honestly, gorgeous girls in hideous outfits made him cringe.

He would have, had he not been distracted by the not-so-discreet trail of blood that stained her long neck. Or by the rather large hole (which gave a clear view of the other side of the room) that was in her a shirt and, apparently, her body as well. The fact that she was a little bit transparent as well might have done it too.


	3. Chapter 2

Kurt was slightly proud of himself. First encounter with a spirit and he didn't scream like a little girl. Or pee his pants for that matter. Although both seemed like excellent choices at the moment. His brain screamed 'Run! There is a ghost in front of you! Run, idiot, run!' but his legs felt like jelly.

"You do know that the polite thing to do when someone says hello is to say it back."

Oh, and the spirit was talking to him! Well, wasn't that just freaking fantastic. Should he talk back? There weren't very many options at the moment at what to do so he opted for saying something.

"Um, right, yes. Hello."

The phantom gave him a sincere smile and floated down so her feet met the ground. Kurt couldn't say she was standing on the ground because he wasn't quite sure if she could. Could a dead girl stand? Oh, right, dead girl.

"My name is Anna Louise Matthews. It's a pleasure to meet you." She held her hand out, as if asking for a handshake. Kurt looked at it, unsure at what to do. Shaking hands seemed like the right thing to do when you meet a new person, but wouldn't he just pass right through ghost girl's hand? Tentatively he reached his hand out and wrapped it around where he thought would be the right place to put it. The air around his hand seemed colder than the rest, like someone had just given him a pile of snow to hold. He pulled his hand back and rubbed it against his thigh, trying to warm it.

"Now, Kurt what were you looking for? I heard you talking to yourself-dreadfully sorry about that-and you seemed to be very troubled about it."

Kurt's eyes widened. The ghoul seemed to be acting unusually normal. "Wait, you do know you're…?" How could he say it without sounding freaked out or offensive?

"I'm what? Dead?" Anna said simply. "Well, of course dear. It's kind of hard not to figure out when you can pass through walls and see everything you walk by behind you. Or float, in my case. I much rather enjoy floating than actually walking like the living. Frees up a bit of my time, you know."

Kurt stared dumbly at her. "Oh, well that's…good to know. Maybe I'll just leave." Kurt had never felt more uncomfortable in his life. Well, except during the Warbler gap attack. That was way more uncomfortable than this. Kurt turned back to the doorknob and had almost fully gripped it—

"Wait!" Kurt twisted his head around to look at Anna, who had now decided to float on the table.

"Kurt, I'll be honest with you, since you seem like such a nice young man. I'm lonely. Now, ghosts aren't supposed to get lonely. I don't know if there's some handbook that you're suppose to follow when you die. I never bothered to look for one, spent most of my time in here." Anna gestured to decrepit room, smiling at it as if it were some beautiful castle. "But I am. No one comes in here, dead or otherwise. Few have ventured in, but the moment I try to speak to them they go pale faced and run away. A rather exuberant boy did stay long enough to stare at me and mutter the words 'you', 'how', and 'what' before running. He had strange hair that boy did."

Kurt snapped back from his period of being a mute. "Oh, you mean Jeff? Yeah, he is quite strange. The rest of us tend to ignore him when he starts talking. He doesn't make sense most of the time. The only one who does listen is his friend, Nick."

"Mmm," Anna sighed, leaning her elbow on her knee and resting her face in the palm of her hand. "Tell me more. I do know that Dalton no longer teaches girls, but what about the boys here? What are they like? Only, what year is it?"

"2011."

"Wow, fifty years. And look! I haven't aged a bit. Must be the death." Anna laughed. "Please, tell me. I must know if the male gender has changed at all."

"Not quite sure about that." Kurt felt more at ease. Anna was like any girl who he had ever held a conversation with, except for the being dead part. He walked over to the table and sat in the lumpy armchair. "First of all the school is now Dalton Academy for Boys."

"Well, that's a change. When I was here, it was called Dalton School for the significantly gifted. Only thing was, we weren't all gifted. A bit redundant, though. I like the new name better. Has a certain ring to it."

Kurt chuckled. "Well I'm glad you like it. Wouldn't be fair if a past student didn't approve of the name."

"Oh, tell me more about this Jeff person. Is he kind? Does he enjoy long walks outside?"

"What, are you asking for his dating profile?" Kurt laughed.

"What? What's a dating profile? All I wanted to know was what does Jeff like. If he ever does venture back here, we might have a rather good chat, you never know."

Kurt couldn't help himself. He doubled over with laughter. It was like he was talking to a senior citizen, but with the face of someone his own age. "No, it's something they made for people who are single and don't want to do the work themselves. Jeff is actually really nice. Although, he gets a little crazy when he gets enough sugar in him. I don't know if he 'enjoys long walks outside', but he likes singing, I'll tell you that."

Anna perked up at this. "Singing?"

"Well of course." Kurt said. "Oh, I remember. Blaine told me that you were a singing prodigy."

Anna placed her hand on her chest, acting flustered. "Well, prodigy is such a strong word. I just enjoyed singing, that's all." She pursed her lips in thought. "Wait, who's Blaine?"

"Oh." Kurt felt the heat begin to rush to his face. "Oh Blaine, h-he no one." 'Great', he thought, 'stuttering will not help me here.'

"Really now?" Anna smirked. "Because while I may be a lost soul, I am not blind. You, good sir, are blushing. Now tell me who he is before I walk through you, and that is actually really uncomfortable for both of us."

Kurt swallowed loudly and rung his hands in his lap. He knew enough about the 60s to know that being gay was not a good thing then. Would a ghost hate him for that? Could he tell her? Anna, for someone who was over 70 years old, had been surprisingly nice so far, throwing in her own witty comments alongside Kurt's. "He's just a friend." Kurt said calmly, willing the heat to leave his cheeks.

"'Just a friend' my butt-excuse my language-but you were about as red as a tomato when I mentioned Blaine. Now you tell me, Kurt Hummel." Anna giggled.

Kurt bit his lip and took in a deep breath. "I may be sort of kindofinlovewithhim." Kurt closed his eyes and waited for the onslaught of abusive words to begin. But nothing came. He opened his eyes and looked to the poltergeist, expecting to see a face of disgust. What he saw shocked him.

Anna had leaned forward, hands on either side of her face, eyes filled with adoration. "What?" Kurt asked skeptically.

"You love him? That is so wonderful! Does he know? Does he love you back? Oh, how I love a good romance!"

Kurt was very confused now. "Wait, so you're okay with that? With me?"

Anna gave a look to Kurt, as if asking 'are you serious?'. "Kurt, not everyone from my time was against homosexuality. More communism than that. Just because you like boys doesn't mean that I will hate you. Besides, you are absolutely adorable and the boy you must like is sure to be very handsome. Now tell me about Blaine. If he knows who I am then he must be smart."

"Well…"

"What?" Kurt searched his brain for the right way to say what he was about to say. "Blaine is smart, just a bit…oblivious."

"How so?" Anna asked.

"Well, you see, this Valentine's Day…" Kurt had told the story over the phone to New Directions so many times that he had memorized. It was almost like telling a well known story, adding random gestures and creating voices for different people.

"…And it starts making these kissing noises."

"That is creepy."

…

"…It's still in my notebook actually. I probably should get rid of it."

"I think you should hang it up on your wall."

…

"…And Blaine says 'The guy I like is the manager there.'"

"No!"

"Yes!"

…

"The song he picks is 'When I Get You Alone'."

"That sounds lovely. What is it about?"

"Wanting to have sex with a girl."

"I thought you said he liked boys too."

…

"…He thought the rest of them didn't think he was gay."

"I would understand. I wouldn't exactly be happy about someone singing a song about wanting to have sex with a girl to me. Even more so if I was a boy."

"No, honey, 'gay' means that you like boys."

"What? When did this happen?"

…

"…And then I told him that I thought he was going to ask me out."

"What did he say?"

"He said that he was clueless, that he wasn't good with romance, but that he really cared for me."

"Well, that's sweet of him. Did he ask you out after?"

"No."

"That dunderhead! What is wrong with him?"

…

"…And I said we would be like 'When Harry Met Sally'."

"What's that?"

"It's a movie. It's about two people who meet and it takes them twelve years to figure out that they're in love with each other."

"Well, let's hope it doesn't take that long."

…

"…And then we sang 'Silly Love Songs' at this restaurant back in my hometown. That's how my Valentine's Day went."

"Kurt, if I may say, Blaine is an idiot."

Kurt laughed. "Oh, no, he just has trouble with seeing what is right in front of him."

"Hmm," Anna hummed. She was now about a foot above the table, legs crossed with a finger tapping her chin. The once vicious storm had died down a bit to a lazy rain, the wind weakened to a light breeze. Kurt saw from the window that a few students had came outside, wrapped in thick coats to block the strange, spring weather. The sun was low in the sky, causing Kurt to become aware of just how long he had been talking. He retrieved his phone from his pants pocket and unlocked it.

"What is that?"

Kurt looked to see Anna's white face contorted in confusion. "It's my phone."

Anna let out a snort. "I have seen a phone. That is most certainly not a phone."

Kurt let out a sigh. "No, see, things have changed over the last fifty years. Phones have changed, cars have changed, even people have changed. Well, some people at least."

Anna's face turned serious. "Listen to me Kurt, people will always be like that. They will not like you. But there are people who will, who will love you for you. I had people who didn't like me. Apparently someone didn't like me enough to—" She lifted her hand to graze the slit in her throat, scrapping along the dried blood. "I wish I could cry like you, or at least feel something. Ghost can't cry, Kurt. Ghost can't do anything but walk around where they died until they know how they did."

Kurt looked to the side, tears beginning to gather in his eyes. "You don't know how you…?"

Anna dropped her head into her hands. "All I remember was someone grabbing me from behind and…and then I was watching my friends cry. It wasn't a pretty picture, Kurt. Seeing your best friend cry. You can't actually unsee it. It stays there, embedded in your mind, just waiting for a bad memory to happen so it can pop up."

Kurt was sure he was crying now. He looked the window, the campus was now deserted.

"You should probably go. The campus is empty so it must be close to curfew. I do not condone rule-breaking, Mr. Hummel."

Kurt gave a choked laugh. He wiped his cheeks with his sleeves and stood up. If he could, he would have given the girl a good hug. But being a spirit and all, that wasn't really an option. Instead, he simply looked at her. Never had he felt so connected to someone. He felt a twinge of pain in his heart at the fact that that someone was dead.

"Kurt?"

"Hmm?" Kurt mused.

Anna looked to the floor. "You'll come back? To see me?" She looked up. "Please? I don't want to be alone anymore. I was alone when I was alive. I don't want to be alone while I'm dead. And since I'm not leaving for a while, having someone to talk to would be a nice thing to have."

Kurt took in a shaky breath. "Yeah. I'll come see you. I don't like being lonely either."

Anna smiled at him. "Goodbye, Kurt."

"Goodbye, Anna."

Kurt made it into the dorm a few minutes later, barely beating curfew. He was slightly soaked from the rain, his cheeks flushed from the cold. Blaine, who was dressed in an undershirt and a pair of loose, flannel pants, came down the giant wooden stair case.

"Kurt! Where have you been?" Blaine asked from the middle to the staircase.

"Just in the North corridor." Kurt said simply. Blaine didn't need to know about Anna this soon.

"Oh," Blaine chuckled. "I'm surprised you would go out into this kind of weather." Blaine ran a hand through his hair, which was curled and wet. Kurt suspected he had just taken a shower, looking at how a few curls fell over his forehead.

"Well, I better get upstairs before the dorm advisor comes through."

"Yeah," Blaine said, waiting till Kurt got to the same step as himself to begin walking. "I should go up too. Tyler will kill us if he sees us out."

Kurt chuckled. "I still can't believe that you call our dorm advisor by his first name. I tried to call him Mr. H once and he nearly beheaded me." Blaine let out a loud laugh. "He's just part of the Blaine Anderson fan club."

"With who else? The Warbler council? I swear, Thad only let's you pick out songs because he has a secret crush on you. And he has a girlfriend."

Blaine snorted. The conversation ended there, leaving the two boys to walk down the hall silently. They walked side by side, fingers brushing. Kurt began to feel the heat rise to his cheeks. When he reached his dorm room, he bid goodbye to Blaine and went to open the door.

"Hey."

Kurt turned to Blaine who had his arms spread opened. "No goodbye hug?"

Kurt wished so badly that he could hide his face under a rock. He was sure his face was almost on fire, but he allowed himself to walk into Blaine's strong arms. Gently, Kurt placed his hands on Blaine's shoulder blades and leaned his head on his shoulder. He took in a deep breath through his nose. Blaine smelt of soap and a fruity kind of smell, probably from his shampoo. He was warm and slightly wet from the shower.

Kurt let go after a few seconds, muttering a quick goodbye and going inside his room. He closed the door and slumped against the hard wood. Blaine, his hair, his eyes, his arms; all of it drove him insane. If it weren't for the fact that he knew that Blaine didn't feel that way for him, he would've asked him out already. But Blaine didn't feel that way for him. So pining over him was pointless at this point. But at least he could still admire from a distance, right?

The next day, Kurt awoke to the sun streaming in from his open window. It was quite a surprise considering the weather from yesterday. Kurt got up, stretched, and went to his in-room bathroom to take a shower. Afterwards, he did his moisturizing routine and got into uniform, opting for the black cardigan than the navy blazer. He was gathering his school books when a knock came from the door.

"Come in!" Kurt called out.

The door creaked open, an arm nudging it further. Blaine's head popped out from behind the door, both hands holding a cup of coffee. "Good morning. A little help with the door please?"

Kurt covered his mouth, trying to contain his laughter. "Sure." He walked over to the door and opened it all the way, allowing Blaine to shift his body inside the room. He handed Kurt his coffee and sat on the already made bed. "I see someone is a bit chipper today." Blaine said.

Kurt took a sip of coffee, the warm liquid rushing down his throat. "Just a bit. I've been feeling more…alive since yesterday."

"Because I hugged you? I knew my hugs were magic." Kurt laughed, glad that there wasn't any coffee on his mouth at the moment. "No, just had a nice talk with a new friend."

"Oh, really. Well, details, details." Blaine said enthusiastically, sitting on the edge of Kurt's bed.

Kurt bit his lip and gripped his cup firmly. He had never truly decided to tell Blaine that the hall was actually haunted and that there was no need to be afraid because the soul that haunted the hall wasn't the spawn of Satan but possibly the sweetest girl ever. Not exactly the easiest topic to breach over before-school coffee.

"Um, actually I really needed help with the homework from French class. Could you help me?"

Blaine laughed at him and waved his hand. "Kurt, you're the most fluent person I have ever met. And that's saying something, because I've actually been to France. Now sit down and tell me about this new friend. I want to know if I have competition for your friendship."

Kurt laughed, but sat on the bed anyway. Blaine scooted closer, their legs barely touching. "Talk you."

"Fine, but just…don't think I'm insane, or anything. I may be a bit crazy when I get a new sweater or when I sing an excellent song, but this is not one of those moments."

"Kurt, nothing would make me think you were insane. Unless you, like, talked to the dead or something. That would be impossible though." Blaine laughed to himself.

Kurt paled at the accusation. Not exactly the best choice of words from Blaine. "Well…"

And that was when he saw it. The small shimmer of white against the crimson curtains that hung over his desk. Once his eyes focused, he saw the plaid skirt flutter with the movement, Anna bringing a finger to her lips motioning for Kurt to stay quiet. Kurt froze, mind whizzing with horrible scenarios. What if Blaine turned around, saw Anna, screamed like a little girl, and ran away, never to speak to Kurt again? That was not part of his master plan.

"Blaine!" Kurt said, quickly thinking what to say next. "I think…I…left something on in my…bathroom. Would you mind going and checking for me?" Blaine looked confused but nodded. "Um, sure." Blaine got up and went in the bathroom, the door swinging closed behind him. The second he heard it click, Kurt ran to where he thought Anna was.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt whispered harshly, willing himself not to yell so Blaine wouldn't hear.

"I thought you would be happy that I came to visit you. Apparently I thought wrong." Anna huffed and crossed her limbs.

"I'm sorry, but what? I said I would come see _you_. Not the other way around!"

"Well, excuse me for wanting to see my new friend."

Kurt looked at Anna, who had a sad façade. "Look, I'm sorry. Really. Just…can you come back later? Blaine is here and—"

"Oh, so that was Blaine? You're right then. He is a quite handsome young man. Strange hair. Do all the boys here have unusual hair?"

"Wait- what? Are you saying I have weird hair because—"

"Kurt, I couldn't find anything that wa-" Kurt turned around and saw Blaine frozen in place, eyes wide with fear. His mouth was open, as if he was trying to say something, but nothing came out. His eyes flicked between Kurt and Anna, who was very visible and white.

"Blaine, please, do not scream like a five-year-old girl. I didn't scream like one the first time, and I would hope that you wouldn't either." Kurt said calmly, walking slowly over the Blaine.

Blaine closed his mouth and swallowed loudly. "Kurt…what…how…?" Blaine was shaking now, his breathing shallow.

"Blaine." Kurt said strictly. "Calm down. Here." Kurt lifted his hand, motioning Blaine to grab it. "Take my hand, Blaine."

Blaine hesitated but placed his hand in Kurt's. Kurt tugged his arm forward, making Blaine stumble a bit so he was now standing next to Kurt. The younger boy walked backwards, keeping eye contact with Blaine so he wouldn't stare at the phantom. The back of Kurt's legs hit the front of the desk, telling him that Anna floated right behind him.

"Blaine, this is Anna. She is the girl who died here." Kurt let go of Blaine's hand and moved to the side so Blaine could fully see Anna.

Blaine stared at Anna, who stared right back. It was like a really intense staring match, Kurt thought. Anna sat, or floated, on the desk, her transparent fingers playing with the hem of her skirt. Blaine stood frozen in the spot Kurt had left him in, arms stuck to his sides. Anna was the first one to end the deafening silence, coughing into her hand to clear her voice.

"Well, I can't take the silence anymore. If I wasn't already dead, it would be killing me. Hello there Blaine, my name is Anna Louise Matthews. It's a pleasure to meet you." Anna stuck her long hand out, asking for a handshake like she always did. Blaine just stood still silently.

"Kurt? Please tell me this is some sort of sick joke on your part. Is this to make me take back the thing about ghost?" Blaine said out of the corner of his mouth.

Kurt tilted his head, giving Blaine his best 'Bitch, are you serious?' look. "Blaine, don't make me hurt you. This is serious."

Blaine switched his look between the white, see-through girl on the desk and the pale boy standing next to her. "What?"

"Wow, you were right. He is oblivious."

Blaine turned almost as white as the ghoul in front of him and stumbled back a few feet. He clutched his chest, wrinkling his white oxford and satin tie. "T-that's impossible. Y-you c-can't…t-that's n-not…" Blaine stuttered. "Believe it Blaine. Quite frankly, I thought you would handle this better." Kurt placed a hand on his jutted hip.

"Kurt! You're the one who said you didn't believe in ghost! You said that it was like your belief in god! That it didn't exist!" Blaine was now in full freak-out mode. Kurt stepped forward and gripped his forearm firmly.

"Blaine, calm down!" Blaine moved to get to the door but Kurt pulled him back. "Look at me, Blaine! Look at me!" Fierce blue-green eyes meet scared gold ones, never looking anywhere else. "Now listen," Kurt said coolly, "Anna is a lost soul. She can't leave Dalton. Like, ever. Not without knowing how she died. And she's alone. Now, talking to a ghost may be a bit unorthodox, but she understands me. There's no need to be afraid of the unknown."

Blaine blinked a few quick times and his mouth thinned into a line. Kurt moved his hand from its position on Blaine's forearm to his hand, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles in a sign of comfort.

"Okay." Blaine said, no emotion in his voice. Kurt kept his hand draped around Blaine's and brought him over to Anna, who had maintained a time of silence and was a second away from disappearing into thin air.

"Right," Blaine spoke, "Anna was it?" Blaine's voice was slightly strained, like he was trying not to completely go silent or scream his head off. He raised his hand up to the frail girl.

"Yes," Anna replied, holding her own hand out to Blaine's. "And you must be Blaine. Kurt has told a lot about you."

"Oh really now? I hope only good thing." Blaine chuckled nervously, feeling out of place in the conversation.

"Oh, _only_ good thing about you sweetie, trust me." Anna turned her head and gave a quick wink at Kurt, who blushed.

"Okay! Enough of that! How about we talk about something else…like…Anna! Tell Blaine about yourself." Kurt said quickly motioning towards Anna. No need for her to go and enlighten Blaine on their no-so-little conversation on how he may be clueless but was sweet and kind and made his heart do back-flips against his rib cage. Nope. Definitely not.

"Well, as you know, I'm dead." Anna started. "Not quite sure how though. Quite a mystery, really. Not even the best detectives my father hired could find out who did."

Blaine suddenly became very interested. "Wait, so no one could figure it out? No one had any guesses?"

"Well I suppose there were some guesses, I'm not certain. Didn't really go out searching, I was still having a nervous breakdown from it all."

"Hmm." Blaine hummed. He brought his index finger and thumb to rub his chin, as if thinking over an idea. Kurt watched him, his eyes in slits and his lips pouted, wondering what was going through Blaine's mind. And then it hit him.

"No." Kurt said shortly.

"What?" Blaine looked at him confused.

"No." Kurt repeated.

"You don't even know what I'm thinking."

"Yes, I do. And this will not turn into a horribly, cheesy episode of Scooby-Doo."

"But Kurt," Blaine whined, "this would be, like, the greatest adventure of our young lives. Besides, Scooby-Doo is a childhood staple. Do they not expect these kids to actually grow up and solve these kinds of things? Seriously."

"Okay, that's it." Anna interrupted. "I am officially confused. Would someone please tell me what is going on?"

Blaine spun on his heel to look at her. "We are going to solve your murder." He said a lot more cheerfully than someone who was talking about homicide should.

"Oh no," Kurt stated. "You,"-he pointed at Blaine-"can go around with a Great Dane and solve this little problem. I"-he motioned to himself-"am going to pretend that my ghost friend doesn't actually exist while still willing myself to talk to her. No offense."

"Some taken, but that's fine."

"Come on, Kurt!" Blaine pleaded. "Why not? Don't you want Anna to be able to cross to the other side? Besides, I don't want to lose you to the ghost girl. It would just kill my ego, really."

Kurt rolled his eyes while Anna floated over to the bed, chuckling to herself. He put the cool palm of his hand against his forehead, willing himself from strangling Blaine with his tie. He quickly realized after that thought that he would then have two phantoms to deal with, and right now, he could barely deal with one.

Would finding out who killed Anna be such a bad thing? Kurt had always been a firm believer that if it ended, it should always end with closure. Closure helped you, comforted you with small facts that make you realize it wasn't your fault. Kurt pulled his hand back and held his head between his fingers and thumb, mind racing.

"Fine." Kurt said. Blaine jumped up and down, fist pumping into the air.

"But," Kurt pointed at Blaine, "If you start wearing an ascot, I swear, I will not fret at punching you in the throat. And trust me, it will hurt you."

AN: Oh my god. When I woke up, I did not expect that many emails in my inbox. You guys are so awesome!

I should be able to update tomorrow and the day after, so keep your eyes open!


	4. Chapter 3

Blaine pulled Kurt along the shelves of books, heading deeper and deeper into the building. They were in the library, which was really more like a large Borders to Kurt. It had every book you could possibly want, even some of the more popular, new releases. Quite frankly, Kurt just thought it made the school seem more snobbish than it actually was.

"I think I found our first clue." Blaine said as he turned the corner into the physics section.

"Okay, first of all," Kurt said, nearly avoiding getting hit in the ribs by the edge of the shelves. "If there is going to be an 'our', we are not going to be using the word 'clue'. Or 'jinkies'. Or any of that 'I can't find my glasses' crap either. I will not let my life turn into a cheap cartoon."

"Fine," Blaine said, finally slowing down as they came towards a dusty row, the sun flowing in from the open windows. It looked like spring had finally settled in for Dalton after weeks of snow, wind, and rain. "But can we still have our own catchphrases. I think it would really help with the mystery solving."

"No." Kurt said sternly. He removed his arm from Blaine's grasp, although he was enjoying the warmth that spread throughout his body from it. He glanced along the books, their bindings torn. "Where are we?"

"This is the 'history of Dalton' section. The school doesn't really need it, they just put it here to make it look like we had 'a rich and interesting past'." Blaine used air quotes before skimming along the titles. "But it will be useful to us, if I can just…" His voice trailed off.

Kurt leaned against the shelf, careful not to get to close so the dust would get on his jacket. He glanced at Blaine, eyes focused into slits, fingers nimbly tracing the words of titles, mumbling to himself. Kurt got to spend all the time in the world with the guy of his dreams, doing probably one of the most insane things you could possibly do. Well, this was a bittersweet moment.

"Aha!" Blaine shouted, before remembering he was in a library and shushed himself. He pulled out a thin, tan, filthy book, the outside of the pages a sickly green.

"What is that?" Kurt asked gruesomely. Blaine didn't reply. He simply walked to a secluded table placed next to the large windows and sat down. Kurt followed and sat in the wooden chair across from him.

"This," Blaine said, lazily opening the moldy book. "my dear Kurt, is the yearbook of the class of 1963. The graduating class that our dear ghouly friend Anna belonged to." Blaine licked his finger, and then made a disgusted face. "Maybe licking my finger after opening the book wasn't such a good idea."

Kurt chuckled while Blaine continued to flip through pages until he came to a one that had rows of small, rectangular picture. "Found it."

Blaine turned the cover so both he and Kurt could look at the pages. "Now we just need to look for someone who looks suspicious."

"Really Blaine?" Kurt forced himself to not roll his eyes. "Okay, first of all a) the pictures are black and white meaning b) most of the people here are either incoherent or dead and c) there are what? 400 students? How do we even now it was just one person? What if it wa-mmmffff!"

Blaine had placed his hand over Kurt's mouth, effectively shutting up the boy. "Kurt, you're my best friend, but if you don't stop raining on my mystery solving parade, I will take your collection of vintage scarves and throw them in a trash can and set it on fire, got it?" Blaine said calmly.

Kurt nodded as his cheeks turned a rosy color. Blaine had never forwardly admitted that Kurt was his best friend, even though Kurt and he always hung out and Kurt could easily say that Blaine was his.

"Good, now just look. We'll check it out when we leave so we can take it back your room. Anna's still there, right?"

Since their conversation the day before with Anna, she had taken up to staying in Kurt's room. It was kind of like having a roommate. A roommate that happened to not need food, sleep, or oxygen in general. And the fact that at any moment she could come through the wall, even into the bathroom was a bit unsettling. Not to mention she glowed in the dark. Most distracting night light ever.

They silently flipped through the pages slowly, taking notes of anyone who even looked a little creepy. After about an hour of hunching over the tattered book, Kurt pulled his head up, neck creaking. He stood up and stretched his arms, small popping noises resonating from his back. "Blaine we've been here forever. I think we can call it quits and just head back to our rooms before people think we're doing inappropriate things."

"Kurt, get your mind out of the gutter or rethink what you just said." Blaine laughed while packing up the grimy book.

Kurt re-said the sentence in his mind, eyes widening when he thought about it. "What! No! I meant inappropriate like, telling people they look ugly in their outfits or pushing them into fountains or tagging stuff. Not that kind of inappropriate!"

"Sure you did Kurt." Blaine said as he slung his bag over his shoulder, carrying the yearbook to the checkout counter. "Sure you did."

Was, was that a smirk? Was Blaine smirking? Well, if this whole detective thing didn't kill him, a one Blaine Anderson would with his stupid hidden messages. Kurt didn't know how to decode those. Kurt barely knew when he was flirting. How was that fair? Maybe Kurt should just hit Blaine for no reason, just so he won't explode from the amount of frustration he caused. But then he would have to come up with an excuse. He could always use the 'your hair is a crime against nature' reason, but he kind of used that reason everyday so he can get a free treat from the sweets display in the Lima Bean. Kurt needed to come up with a list of reasons to hurt Blaine. It can go in the same draw as the 'reasons why I'm in love with Blaine' list. That list is at about 3 pages, front to back. Kurt needed some help; maybe the library will have some self-help books. He'll check later after Blaine and him go back to visit Anna.

When Kurt opened the door to his room, the only thing that could describe the scene in front of him was, well…there were no words. Clothes were being constantly shot out of his wardrobe, blazers and sweater vests and uniform pants. Scarves, shirts, shoes, all piled on the bed in assorted heaps, mostly arranged by color. Kurt was ready to either die or cut a bitch. Anna popped her head out from the racks of clothing, grinning like a madwomen.

"Oh, good! You're back! I was getting a bit bored, but you're back. Now I was thin-"

"Anna, what the hell did you do to my closet?" Kurt yelled, flinging his bag back over the arm chair next to the door. Blaine stepped back a little into the corner, trying to hide from the explosion he knew was coming.

"What?" Anna asked innocently.

Kurt charged at her with the fury of a bull, intent on ending her. That was before he realized that she was already dead and no matter what he did, he couldn't hurt her. And like Anna said before, going through her multiple times would just be both creepy and uncomfortable for both of them.

Kurt stopped in front of her, eyes in wrathful slits as he stared at her. He then stepped to the side and began banging his head against the wall.

"Whoa, Kurt no!" Blaine shouted, coming out of his little cave and pulling Kurt back. Kurt sighed loudly before collapsing on his comforter. "Why," he said, arms spread eagle style, "are there so many insane people in my life? There's insane people at McKinley, I transfer here. There's insane people here, I _try_ to ignore them. And now I have an insane roommate who just happens to be a ghost. How is that even possible? Please, Blaine, tell me. Because I. Do. Not. Understand."

Blaine sighed just as loudly as Kurt, but didn't answer him. Instead, he proceeded to start placing the discarded clothing back into place. Kurt closed his eyes and tried to block out the noise.

"Can I help?" Anna asked in a quiet voice.

"No," Blaine said, "I know how he arranges it." Kurt couldn't help the small smile that formed on his face. Of course Blaine would know. Blaine knew everything about him, even some of the embarrassing things he did when he didn't even know they would be embarrassing.

Small rustles came from various places around Kurt's room. He could feel when the bed went up an inch because of the weight that was being lifted. Blaine went to pick up a shirt and gently brushed his fingers along Kurt's leg. Kurt took in a sharp breath, but kept his eyes closed.

"So…you and Kurt?" Anna asked Blaine.

"Me and Kurt?'

"You and Kurt." Anna said in a knowing tone.

Oh god no. Not now. Kurt can't even feel his limbs. He knew, he tried. His limbs felt like they were permanently glued to the blankets and his mouth was pretty much sealed shut from the amount of stress he was suffering. He could try and stop the certain crash-and-burn that will come out of this. Or he could ignore it and pretend that he was asleep. Let's go with option 2.

Kurt laid still, slowing his breathing. Blaine and Anna didn't seem to notice as they continued on with their conversation.

"Okay, maybe Kurt is right. You are crazy." Anna simply laughed at him.

"Oh, Blaine. You poor delirious boy."

"…I'll just ignore that."

"Kurt told me about Valentine's day."

"Oh yeah…I had a…certain lapse in…judgment." Blaine said sadly.

"Also, bad choice of song."

"What! Robin Thicke is a classic!"

"It was song about wanting to have intercourse with a girl. If I am correct, you enjoy the male gender a little more."

"Oh, so you know I'm…gay?"

"Yes, I already had this conversation with Kurt. I am perfectly fine with your sexuality. Really, does everyone just assume I'm against homosexuals because I'm from the 50s?"

"Well yes."

"That makes me feel _so_ much better Blaine. Really, it does."

There was more shuffling and Blaine's hands grazing near his body, ridding the bed of garments that held it down. Eventually Blaine was poking him in the shoulder. "What Blaine?"

"I got all your clothes back in place, but um…"

"What?"

"Well, she may or may not have gottenintoyourunderweardraw."

Kurt slowly opened one eye. "…Did you just say that she got into my underwear draw?" Blaine nodded. "And I presume because of what happened to the rest of my wardrobe that my underwear is also thrown haphazardly around my dorm in a way that if anyone was to walk in they would think that I had some type of orgy?"

"Well…when you put it that way—"

"Blaine, simple yes or no question."

"Then yes."

Kurt let out another loud sigh. He was doing that a lot lately. Kurt lifted himself up so he rested on his elbows and surveyed the room. It looked considerably cleaner, except for the mass amount of boxers that were everywhere. It was then that Kurt realized that a pair of Calvin Klein's hung from the ceiling fan. "How did I not notice that before?" Blaine followed his eyes until they spotted the black fabric. "I cleaned this room, how did _I_ not notice that before?" He said loudly.

"Notice what?"

Kurt let out a scream and rolled off the bed, hitting the floor with a 'thump'. He rubbed his head and looked up to the covers. Anna, a sickly glow surrounding her, had come through the bed, her head the only visible part. "Are you okay?"

"Oka-you just came out of my bed!"

"More importantly," Blaine stepped forward, "where have you been? You left me 10 minutes ago to discover that you went on a rampage through Kurt's undergarments!"

"Ew, Blaine don't say 'undergarments.'" Kurt eased himself up onto his feet. "It makes you sound like a senior citizen."

Blaine huffed and tried to grab the boxers above his head. "Why did you even go through his underwear draw?" He jumped but missed by an inch. "I mean, I understand why you went through his wardrobe. Kurt has fine taste."

Kurt blushed. Anna came up behind him and said, "Hear that Kurt, Blaine thinks you have fine taste." Kurt shooed her as Blaine continued to try and get the boxers.

"But why his underwear?" Blaine jumped and pinched the waistband between his fingers, pulling them down with him. "Aha!" He shouted gleefully. "Although now that I see them up-close, I see that Kurt's taste extends to all his garments."

Kurt blushed profusely and tore the article of clothing from Blaine's clutches. "Give me those!" He hid them behind his back. "Blaine, how 'bout you leave? You've helped enough for today." Blaine was surprised at this but then noticed Kurt's very evident blush. "Okay, I'll see you later." Blaine said politely and then walked down the hallway that led to the door. After Kurt heard the distinct 'click' that signaled the door was closed he turned to the pale girl next to him with daggers in his eyes.

"I swear I will get some holy water and…"

"That won't work. Someone tried that and it just ended up as a puddle on the floor. Ruined the tile in my favorite hall."

Kurt sat back down on his bed and screamed into his pillow, willing himself to not go on a rampage with a sledge hammer.

On Wednesday of that week, after Kurt's final class, he bid goodbye to Blaine and drove his car back to Lima. It was more of a check-up on how the family was thriving without him since he was no longer capable to watch them since he dormed at Dalton and couldn't attend the traditional family Friday dinner. It was easier to go on Wednesdays due to the fact that classes ended earlier that day. Then again, they did start earlier than the other weekdays and that did not bode well with Kurt at all.

He arrived at his house at 3:32 p.m. and parked his Lincoln navigator in the driveway. It amazed him how surprised he was every time he visited the new home. Even more so since he had transferred to Dalton Academy mere days after the family had moved in (though Kurt was still able to decorate his new room in a way that it wouldn't be an eyesore whenever he came to visit).

Kurt locked his door and looked at the house in front of him. There seemed to not be any movements behind the windows and Kurt made a lucky guess that the garage was empty as well. That only meant that his father and Carole were still at work and Finn was being held up by either Rachel or Quinn or whoever that hell he had his heart set on. Finn really needed to make up his mind about who he wanted.

Kurt took out his keys and unlocked the front door before walking into the home. It was a lot more stylish since Burt had allowed him and Carole to purchase new furniture instead of the horribly tacky sofas that both families had seemed to own. While Kurt loved his first home, the one his mother had raised him in until she had fallen ill, he had come to rather fancy the new house. Even if he had to lose his basement bedroom. Blaine had been devastated when he realized he could no longer prance up and down the steps in Kurt's room.

He threw his satchel on the couch in the living room and walked into the kitchen to get himself a drink. He sipped on his cup of ice cold water and searched the pantry and cupboards to see how his family had been doing on food. While the amount of junk food was just appalling, he trusted that it was more for Finn and that Carole would most definitely reprimand Burt if he even dared to touch that crap.

Kurt then ventured upstairs to his bedroom, which was located at the top of the staircase. He was less than shocked to see that his door was cracked open. He pushed the door open to see his room perfectly intact. Well, no break in, that was for sure. His eyes grazed over his bed, closet, the door that lead to his bathroom, his desk…Wait. Kurt strode over to his desk which held his home computer and looked at the offending object that lay under the screen.

Was…was that a cheeto?

Kurt pinched it between his nails as not to get the disgusting orange powder on his skin. He glared at it in the hopes that it would burst into flames. A cheeto, in his room nonetheless, could only mean one thing…

"Finn!"

Kurt growled and threw the terrible excuse of food into the wastebasket by the side of the desk. God, that idiot. Just because his computer had better wifi than Finn's did and the actual newest version of windows not give him a reliable excuse to sneak into Kurt's room.

He pulled the chair forward and sat looking at the dead screen. Other than the single piece of cheese-flavored atrocity there seemed to be no other signs of unwanted entry. Finn had tried to keep the mess to a minimum. Which meant that he had not wanted to be caught even more so than usual.

Kurt started up the console and opened a window once the internet icon came up. He quickly moved the arrow over to the 'Favorites' button and clicked. His eyes looked over each one but it seemed Finn hadn't added anything new. But…Kurt moved the mouse over to the 'Browser History'. He clicked the button.

Nothing could prepare him for what he would see.

'Porn. Porn. So much porn. Why? Oh god my hands touched the keyboard. Oh god, oh god' Kurt thought as he frantically ran into his connected bathroom. God knows what could've attached to his hands during the few minutes he was actually on the computer. He quickly turned the facet on and grabbed the anti-bacterial soap to start scrubbing at his hands.

"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to take a detox shower, burn that computer, and then when Finn gets home I'm going to kill him for using my computer to look at…ugh. Disgusting."

By time Kurt had deemed his hands safe and useable they were bright red and several layers of skin had been lost. It would take a few days to get them back to their baby soft quality but it was worth it to at least try and remove any link to….ugh. His brain would probably need a detox as well.

The front door slammed shut and fury flowed through Kurt's veins. Finn was home.

"Kurt? I saw your car out front, where are you?"

Hell hasn't met wrath until they've met a one Kurt Hummel. The brunette stormed down the stairs and came to stand in the kitchen, looking at Finn who had his head stuck in the fridge. "Dude, did you bring anything with you to eat cause I can't find anything, like, at all."

Kurt pursed his lips and glared at the back of Finn's head. When he didn't respond, Finn turned around. The look Kurt was giving him could have set a forest on fire. Finn backed up against as Kurt marched up to him.

"Finn Hudson, you have so much explaining to do so you better start talking right now!"

Finn gave him a confused look. "Okay, dude, I have no idea what you're talking about but, um….sorry?"

Kurt's face burned red. "You are fucking kidding me! You-you violated my computer! I will never be able to use or see it in the same way at all!" Kurt started to punch the taller boy any where he could touch, which was mostly just his arms and chest since Finn had decided to protect his face.

"Oh god-ow!-how did-fuck, Kurt! How did you find out-ow!- and when did you get so strong?" Finn shouted as Kurt continually berated him with his fists.

"You jerk! I found out because you left a fucking cheeto on the desk! And I've always been this strong!" Kurt finished the sentence by landing a final punch to the side of Finn's ribs. The football player clutched his side and looked at the pale boy dressed in the school uniform. "Please! Just, don't tell mom and Burt!"

Kurt placed his hands on his hip. "Oh, _don't_ tell them? Well, why not? I feel like that would be proper punishment for using my computer to search…that. And maybe the removal of your hair."

Finn moved so he was on his knees. "Please Kurt! You can't!" Finn begged. "Mom and Burt would ground me until eternity and then I won't be able to go to Rachel's party. And we just started being friends!"

Kurt's eyebrow quirked up at the 'party' and he crossed his arms. "Party? What party?"

Finn looked at him from his place on the floor. "Rachel's party. She's having it on Friday. Didn't she call and tell you?"

The countertenor felt the anger deflate from him. His…his friends were having a party…without him? While Kurt had to admit that he didn't see his friends as much as he wanted to due to the fact that they went to different schools that didn't mean he didn't at least talk to them over the phone. He was surprised that not even Mercedes had told him about it the last time they had talked over the phone. "Oh, no, I didn't know."

Finn's face scrunched up in pity. "Oh sorry, dude." Kurt looked back at him. "Finn, don't call me dude."

"Sorry."

Kurt let his arms fall to his side. "It's okay. Although I don't think I'll be able to forgive you for using my computer for your own sick personal needs. I'm still telling dad and Carole."

The taller wrapped his arms around Kurt's knees, making the warbler almost tumble over. "Please, Kurt, please! If you tell them, I will never be able to do anything for the rest of my life! If I can't make Rachel's party, she'll never talk to me again! And we just got to the place where we're friends with each other, especially after what went down during Valentine's." Finn pleaded.

"Oh, so you're with Quinn now?"

Finn jumped back. "I didn't say that."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Of course you didn't."

Finn was about to say something else when his face screwed up. Uh oh. Kurt had seen that look before. That was Finn's thinking face. And he knew that when Finn was thinking that things did not go his way at all.

"I have an idea," Finn said after several minutes of screwed up thinking face. "How about, instead of telling our parents about me using your computer to—"

"Don't say it!"

"Fine! Instead of that, I can take you with me to Rachel's party! I'll even be the designated driver so you can get drunk!" Finn's smile could rival the sun in how bright it was.

Kurt scoffed at him. "Yes, Finn, because the last time I was intoxicated it went very well."

Finn's eyes fixed up like he was trying to look in his brain for an idea. "Oh, oh!" He yelled. "You can see all your friends. Everyone from glee will be there, mostly for the free booze, but you can still see them!"

Kurt thought this over. He hadn't seen the entire glee club since he tied with them during sectionals. He missed them. He really did. Sure, Dalton and the warblers took away the sense of loneliness, but they couldn't fill the void that was in his heart. That void could only be filled with makeovers, and girls vs. boys mash-ups, and Mr. Schue's tacky sweater vests.

He pulled a hand up to fix the hair that had fallen into his eyes. "I-I don't know, Finn. As much as I would love to see everyone, even if most of them would be drunk, I can't just leave Dalton. Well, I can, but they check up on the kids who dorm every day, including weekends. I'm not supposed to leave without a parents' permission and if I told Dad that I wanted to be home because I was going to go to a party with alcohol I don't think he would take it well."

"But Kuuuuurrrrrttttt," Finn whined. Kurt let out an exasperated sigh. He was dealing with way more whining than he needed to in life. "Please, I promise you'll have fuuuuunnnnn. Hey, you can even bring Blaine! I bet he wouldn't mind making out with you if he had a few shots first!"

"Oh my god, Finn!" Kurt shouted. This day was just getting worse and worse. "I don't think of Blaine in that way."

Finn gaped at his step-brother. "Liar. Rachel told me about what happened during Valentine's. While I was running a kissing booth, you were getting your heart broken by that dumbass."

Kurt batted at Finn's head and shoulders. "Don't call him a dumbass. If he doesn't want to be with me, he doesn't have to. Blaine has his own mind."

Finn rolled his eyes. That concerned Kurt greatly. Maybe some of Kurt had started to rub off onto Finn, and not in the greatest of ways, like his fashion sense or his want to actually keep his room clean.

"Kurt, this could be your chance to impress Blaine! While everyone is wasted, you'll remain calm and poised; the face of maturity. Blaine will take one look at you amongst all the drunken teenagers and realize that you are the boy of his dreams!"

The young man just stood still, staring at the strange boy attached to his legs. While having Finn on his knees in front of him would've been great a year ago now it just was extremely weird.

"Okay, since when have you been concerned for my non-existent love life? And please let go of my legs, your arms are starting to wrinkle my slacks and I can't have that because I'm going to see Blaine after I leave here." Kurt said. Finn gave a goofy grin and unwrapped his arms from Kurt's legs.

Finn looked back up with him, his eyes large and wide with hope. "So, you still going to take up my offer?"

Kurt then proceeded to flick Finn in the forehead. The frankenteen fell over and ended up sprawled on the floor. "Kurt, why must you hurt me so?"

"Okay, I'm going to take your offer to take me to the party, mostly because I really do want to see everyone. But by no means does that mean I'm not going to tell dad and Carole. You are so in debt to me that you may have to name your first born child after me. You are going to wash my car and help me carry my bags when I go shopping for the next two years. You will not put the blame on me for anything and if you ever dare to enter my room again without my prior permission not only will I tell them, I will also be informing the entire glee club of your browser history. Do you understand?"

Finn's eyebrows scrunched together. "I…I think so. There was a lot of things that I had to do and about my kid that doesn't exist, but yeah I get what you're saying."

"Good." Kurt walked back to the family room. Finn looked at his form before crawling after him like a toddler. The pale brunette grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, patting down the wrinkles in his cardigan. He turned to Finn, who was still on the floor, and rose a eyebrow.

"And, Finn, get off the floor. The more you're there, the more pathetic you look."

Author's Note: Bless everyone who has read this! BLESS YOUR FAMILY, BLESS YOUR COW!

Also: Shamless advertising. I have a tumblr and my user name is 'thefemalekurthummel'. There will be a link on my profile if you want to follow me or just stop by and say hi! (no need to follow me at all)

To the people who have added me to their story alert, just, you guys make me feel all these emotions and I can't. ;_;

I have to give a shoutout to Darren Criss because he is performing his first broadway show at the moment! Proud mama tears

Next update should be Friday!


	5. Chapter 4

_**Author's note: I didn't explain this before, but this story starts out during 'Comeback'. Yes, I know. They weren't in that episode. They were solving a murder. So the story will progress from there to 'Original Song'. This AU, so, yeah. So in this chapter we are making the transition into 'Blame It on the Alcohol'. Fun times.**_

_**Also, I love all of you. I swear, every time I see a story alert thing in my inbox, I just smile and cry a little at all the amazing people. Now, onwards with the story!**_

It was a surprise that Kurt hadn't been pulled over on his way to The Lima Bean. He would have made it on time for his not-date with Blaine if Finn hadn't decided get down on his knees and beg Kurt to promise not to tell their parents about his browser history. It got really pathetic when Kurt was trying to walk out the door with a blubbering Finn attached to his leg. The neighbors were going to need some serious therapy because of the Hummel-Hudsons.

After narrowly missing a hybrid while pulling into the parking lot, Kurt looked his Navigator and ran into the coffee shop, slamming the door open. The patrons turned towards the front of the shop, all giving Kurt a raised eyebrow and a questioning look. This was just not his day.

He gave them all a sheepish grin and scanned his eyes over the room. It wasn't that hard to spot Blaine since he was the only one trying to muffle his laughter with his hand. Kurt pursed his lips and shook his head. Oh, so that was how it was supposed to be.

"Oh, Blaaaiiiiinnnnneee!" Kurt sang out loudly. He had already embarrassed himself, and if he was going down Blaine was coming with him.

Immediately, the soloist's head shot up, eyes wide, hand still covering his mouth. Fellow caffeine addicts that visited the shop as much as the students turned their heads to where Blaine sat, others following to look in his direction. His face reddened and he let his hand fall.

Kurt flashed him a sparkling smile from across the room while fluttering his eyelashes. Blaine returned with fire in his eyes and sticking his tongue out. The patrons watched the pair with amusement, sipping at their coffees and nibbling on their sweets. This was probably the best thing to happen since Blaine's revelation in February. The Lima Bean had started their own system of watching Kurt and Blaine interact. Whenever the boys would visit, there was no doubt that something interesting would go down. They had even started a Facebook page. This event was definitely going on the internet.

The brunette narrowed his eyes and flipped his head so his bangs smoothed out. He placed his hands on his hipbones and strutted around the tables before coming to a stop in front of Blaine. "Really, Blaine? That's the best you could come up with? Sticking your tongue at me?"

Blaine leaned forward on his elbows and threaded his fingers together. "I'm sorry, Kurt, but not all of us can act as ridiculous as you."

Kurt rolled his eyes, pulling his chair out to sit down. "Blaine, when you've had friends like I've had, there isn't really an option to not act ridiculous." Kurt spotted his regular cup of coffee and grabbed it, sipping at it like he would never know the taste of mocha again.

"Kurt, you've met my friends. You know the insanity that I have to face every day. Do I act ridiculous?"

"Well…"

"Don't answer that."

He rolled his eyes again. "Speaking of my friends, I have a proposition for you."

Blaine picked up his own styro-foam cup. A messily scrawled 'Blaine' was written in sharpie along the left side. "A proposition? Interesting. Well, tell me what it is. I have some news of my own as well."

Kurt's eyes flickered to his sides to glance at the neighboring tables. The customers that had watched them before seemed to understand that the show was over and had returned back to their less than exciting lives that didn't involve coffee house showdowns.

"Okay, well I'll save the disgusting details for later, but Finn has invited us to a party this Friday night at the home of a one Rachel Berry."

Blaine's eyes widened slightly and he hurried to swallow his drink. "A party?"

Kurt nodded and hummed to himself. "Yes, and you and I will be attending said party on Friday at 8 o'clock." He finished the sentence by reaching over and grabbing one the cookies that Blaine had bought and shoving it in his mouth before it could be taken away.

Blaine playfully swatted at his arm and grabbed his own cookie to nibble on. He furrowed his brows as a thought came to him.

"Wait, Friday? At 8? How do you expect to get permission to go to a party from our parents so we can go?"

Kurt shrank back a little. "Well…I did have a…idea."

"What?"

Kurt leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh. "I was…kind of hoping….that you could ask Mr. Harrington if he could cover for us so we could leave."

Blaine blinked. His mouth hung open, geometric brows raised so they were more in the middle of his forehead. Kurt chanced a quick glance to either side of him before swiftly stealing the last sweet off of Blaine's plate. The curly headed boy shook his head to clear his daze.

"Kurt, you were going to ask me to use Mr. Harrington's trust in me to get us a cover so we could leave campus?"

"Trust, adoration, same thing." The pale young man paused to chance a look at the patrons of the Lime Bean. It appeared most had returned to their own business, but he could see a few customers at nearby tables quickly move their eyes to another direction. "And can you please lower your voice a bit? It's like everyone else is only here to listen in on our conversations."

Neighboring individuals sunk back into their chairs and busied themselves with their coffee.

"But, yes, Blaine, I was insisting that you use that charm of yours to get us an alibi." He took a sip of coffee. "Just a thought" he mumbled under his breath.

The soloist let out a defeated noise and moved so his head rested on his hand, an irritated look plastered on his face. "What am I going to do with you, Kurt Hummel?"

Kurt lolled his head back and then to its original position to look at Blaine. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe buy me mass amounts of coffee and DVD box sets?"

Blaine looked at him for a second before bursting into a hearty laugh, any sense of annoyance flooding away from his face. Kurt let a smile cross his face at the sound of the other boy's laughter. It was almost like music itself, he thought, like the sound of flutes and violins echoing off walls. A blush spread on his cheeks but he could care less at the sight of Blaine's smile. It took a good minute or so before the lead warbler was finally able to calm down, face red and breaths coming out in short pants.

"Oh, oh god, my insides hurt. I don't think I've laughed that hard since…?"

"Lunch?" Kurt offered.

Blaine nodded. "Oh yeah, lunch. I almost forgot about that. I still can't believe that David was actually able to stuff all those Dots into his mouth."

Kurt let out a small giggle. "I'm still amazed that he was able to hold them all in his mouth without throwing up on anyone. It was truly a miracle."

The other boy let out a chuckle and nodded in agreement before calming himself down again. "Oh god, yes. But I don't think I'll ever be able to ever eat another Dot in my life. Everything has been ruined about them." Blaine turned back to finish off the last of his coffee before turning back to Kurt. "I'll think of your, uh, proposition, okay? I'm not exactly a rebel."

Kurt nodded. "Okay, that's reasonable. But you have till noon on Friday to make up your mind." He let his long fingers trace the lid of his cup. "Now you mentioned beforehand that you had some news of your own?"

Blaine perked up, almost like a puppy. "Oh yeah. So after you left for your weekly visit home I went back to your room and saw that Anna was there-"

"Which is why I now deeply regret giving you the spare key to my room-"

"And we talked for a little bit about how her life was like when she was alive. Really interesting, actually. Although it was almost like listening to my grandfather talk about how 'when I was your age…'. But I did get a few crucial facts out of it." He reached down beside his chair and grabbed his leather satchel. He placed it on his lap and dug through it for a bit before pulling out a worn out notebook. He flicked through the first few pages, most consisting of school notes and small doodles, before finding what he needed.

He flipped it so the page was facing up and pushed it across the table towards Kurt. "Here are a few details I was able to write down."

Kurt picked up the notebook, his blue eyes instantly drawn to the letters at the top of the page that were written in thick ink. "Christina Monroe? Everett O'Malley? Who are these people?"

"They were some of Anna's friends when she was alive. Christina was her best friend and Everett was Christina's boyfriend at the time. There was also another girl, um…" Blaine reached across the table a grabbed the notebook, his fingers brushing Kurt's for an instance.

He read the page for a bit. "Ah, here we are. Mioko Hitachinn. She was the foreign exchange student for that year. Spoke barely any English but she apparently became one of Anna's closest friends. But not as close as Christina, they were practically inseparable." He handed the notebook back to Kurt.

Blue eyes traced over the notes, contemplating each and every fact. Minutes pasted before Kurt finally placed the notebook down.

He sighed. "You know what this means, don't you?"

Blaine jerked back. "Uh, not really, no." He looked at the notebook and then back to Kurt. "What does it mean?"

"It means that we now have a list of suspects."

*w* *w* *w*

The next day, Kurt and Blaine weren't able to talk to each other until lunch since they had no morning classes together that day. But when lunch came around, they were quick to grab their food and find a table. They sat down rather fast and were about to open their mouths to discuss their fresh list of murder suspects when-

"Hey, guys! Haven't seen you so far today!"

They both turned around in horror to look in the direction of where the voice was coming from. The voice had come from Wes, who was walking towards their table with David and Thad close on his heels. They placed their trays down and sat at the table, Wes and David on either side of Blaine and Thad next to Kurt.

"So what have you guys been up to lately?" asked David. "I only ever see you two in the halls or at warblers practice."

Blaine poked at his plate of noodles. "Nothing, just, you know, homework."

Wes and David both leaned in to look at each other across Blaine. "Of course, homework." Wes mumbled. They both shared a knowing look before leaning back to eat.

Kurt simply raised an eyebrow at the glance and took a bite of his salad. "So Kurt, anything interesting going on for you?" Thad said.

He swallowed his food and turned to Thad. "Eh, not really. Same old, same old." He paused. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know when the next auditions for solos ar-"

"Oh, really? 'Cause by the looks of it, you have been very busy with Blaine here."

Kurt and Blaine both shared a look from across the table. Blaine coughed into his hand. "Kurt and I have just been busier than usual, that's all. What with mid-terms coming up again, I would think that you guys would spend whatever time you had studying." He took the opportunity to look at the others, seeing their eyes still trained on him. "Not to mention Regionals."

Wes slammed his hands on the table and stood up. "Of course! Regionals! I mean, how could we forget about that!" He started to wring his fingers and his left eye had a subtle twitch. No one batted an eyelash at him. "Lots and lots of practices! Yes, lots of practice is what we need! Practice is what will lead us to victory, no tie this time, no sire…!"

David stood up and crossed over to Wes, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Wes? How about you sit down now? Think of the beach, buddy. The beach with hot lifeguards, okay."

Wes took in a deep breath. "Right, right. The beach, lifeguards in bikinis, drinking out of a coconut, right…" His words trailed off as he sat back down.

Blaine smirked a bit. He was glad that the attention was now off of him and Kurt. But now they would have to be a bit more careful with how much time they spent together while they were on campus. They didn't need their friends finding out about Anna anytime soon. That could possibly end in disaster. No wait, definitely end in disaster.

"So Kurt, I saw you in the North Corridor the last week."

Kurt and Blaine froze for a moment before turning to look at Wes.

"Oh, you did? I, I guess I didn't see you." Kurt held his face in a nervous smile.

Wes took a sip from his soda. "Yeah." He nodded. "It was that day of that terrible storm. You looked like you were looking for something."

Kurt's face gave a nervous twitch. "Oh, um, yes. Just forgot one of my more important note sheets in a hall."

"Did you ever find it?"

He reached up to brush his bangs. "Yeah, I found it. And in one of the _oddest_ places." His enhance on the word was not noticed by the other boys. Thank you, Kurt thought.

"Well that's good." David said. "We can't have any of our Warblers failing just because they lost a note."

Thad, who had been sitting on the sidelines, swallowed his bite of sandwich. "Yes, it would just be plain _awful_ if Kurt got pulled from the Warblers."

Kurt snuck in a quick glare at Thad before turning back to his meal to listen to David and Wes ramble on about aliens.

*w* *w* *w*

He...how'd he find out! I mean, I've been here far longer than he has and even I don't dare go into that room. But he comes here with his sad little sob story and thinks he can start running this whole place? I should think not! He comes into the Warblers expecting to get a solo on his first audition. Who does he think he is? Well, apparently a one Kurt Hummel.

And, and he went into the hall! No idiot goes into that hall! Everyone knows what happened here, everyone knows that if you go into that hall you don't know what you'll find. Everyone!...Kurt didn't though. Kurt's new and headstrong, obviously shown by his audition, and probably has no belief in ghost.

Shit.

Well, that just ruins everything. If, if he's found her…he must be trying to figure out how she died and if he's involved…then so is Blaine. And we still technically need Blaine for his voice. Hmmm….

Eavesdropping isn't exactly one of my better skills but I was still able to listen to that whole conversation, even in a whole cafeteria filled with other teenage boys. If Kurt and Blaine both know about Anna and are helping to solve her murder then I'll have to stop them. Oh, I'll let them go on, let them think they are at the brink of just solving it and then I will smack them down like the angry hand of God.

Anything it takes to protect the family name.

*w* *w* *w*

Warblers practice lead a little longer than usual so when Wes banged his gavel to signal the end of the meeting most of the boys were ready the push each other out of the way in their attempts to get out of the room. After all of their fellow warblers had left, Wes, David and Thad bid goodbye to Kurt and Blaine, leaving them alone in the hall.

Kurt slowly packed up his things, making sure everything was in place before turning around to look at Blaine, who was still trying to stuff on of his many paper notebooks into his leather satchel.

Kurt propped his hands on his hip. "Blaine, you do know you can just carry that notebook around, right?"

"No, no, I can-ah!-get it to fit. I know I ca-ah-n!" Blaine grunted and continued trying to push the notebook into the bag.

Kurt shook his head at Blaine and plopped down on one of the fine leather couches that rested in the Warblers' hall. He leaned on the arm rest and crossed his legs, eyes looking at the great grandfather cloak that stood in the corner. They had enough time to spare, but if he didn't get back to his dorm room Anna would sure to get bored and if he remembered clearly, a bored Anna did not bode well.

"Blaine, we better hurry or-" His eyes took notice of the notebook in Blaine's hands. "Is that the notebook with all information in?"

Blaine stopped his actions and looked down at the battered notebook in his hands. "Um..."

"It is, isn't it?"

"…Yes."

Kurt stood up and walked over to Blaine, carefully grabbing the ripped pages of the notebook. "How about I keep it with me?" He gave a gentle smile. "You don't have any other notes in here, do you?"

"Um…no." Blaine moved a hand to scratch at the back of his neck. "It's mostly just a dump for my doodles. I just used it to keep our info because I thought it would be easier to hide from everyone."

Kurt nodded and held the paper closer to his body. "That makes sense. No one would suspect that a raggedy notebook covered in doodles of dinosaurs would contain a list of potential murderers." He walked back to his bag to put away the notebook.

"Hey," Blaine said shouldering his satchel. "I draw kickass dinosaurs, and you know it."

Kurt stifled a laugh. "Of course, Blaine." He said in a teasing tone. "You make the most magnificent dinosaur drawings I have ever seen." He grabbed his bag and gently shouldered it. "Have you thought about it?"

Blaine blinked. "What?"

"The party? Have you even thought of my proposition since yesterday?"

He placed both of his hands on the back of his neck and sighed when his back let out a popping sound. "Well, I mean I've thought of it, I just haven't thought about it."

"So that would be a 'no'?" Kurt asked with a raised brow.

"I didn't say no." Blaine said, moving over to the large oak doors that opened up to the rest of the school. "And now that I think about it, I have been feeling stressed lately. What with Warblers practice and mid-terms-"

"Don't forget trying to solve a murder." Kurt smirked at him.

Blaine smiled. "Right. Who knows? Maybe going to a party and being an average teenager is just what I need. A nice little vacation." He opened the large door and held it for Kurt.

The pale boy smiled again and stepped out. He turned around after Blaine closed the door behind. "Yes, Blaine. Because getting completely wasted and waking up with a hangover is an excellent stress reliever."

He laughed at the other boy. "Who said anything about getting wasted, Kurt?" They both walked down the spacious interior of the main building, noting that it was void of all students, warbler or otherwise.

"Well you did just use the words 'teenage' and 'party' in the same sentence so I felt it was implied." Kurt smirked.

Blaine shrugged. "That's beside the point."

Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine. "So, is that a 'yes' then?"

The curly headed boy stopped and turned to look at his companion. "After much consideration, and by much I mean little to none, I have decided to agree to your proposition."

Kurt punched a fist in the air and did a happy little dance, the kind he only did when in the presence of either Mercedes or Blaine. He finished it off with jazz hands, leaving himself breathless.

"Yes, okay, I'll have to start planning an outfit immediately and you'll need something that doesn't involve a blazer-"

Blaine gasped loudly. "But Kurt, the blazer is my trademark!"

Kurt simply ignored Blaine's outburst and continued on, quickening his pace up the hall. "And of course we'll figure out what to do with Anna…"

The soloist hurried up so he stood next to the other warbler. "What are we going to do with Anna? We can't exactly leave her alone for a whole night; she may potentially destroy your room."

Kurt tapped his chin with his index finger. "Well," he sighed. "I could always just give her a few of my old Vogue magazines. If she likes clothes so much, she'll love them."

"Great!" Blaine said. "So…?"

Kurt pointed forward. "You go use your charm to get Mr. Harrington to cover for us." He then pointed behind him. "And I will head to the nearest drug store to buy every fashion magazine they have."

"Right." And with that, the two parted ways.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Hello, faithful readers! I've missed you. I've been a little busy lately, but luckily not enought to actually mess with the production of this story. **_

**_But I have to tell you I messed up a little. At the beginning of this story there was suppose to be a prologue which I forgot to put. It wasn't exactly important for the first few chapters but it will be for the rest of the story from this point, so if you would just go back and read it when you have the chance that would be great._**

**_Now onto this chapter. Only one big important fact, there was NO blainchel kiss. Mostly because I didn't want to deal with it. Now go forth and read!_**

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><p>"K-Kurt. Kurt!"<p>

This was not exactly what Kurt was hoping would happen when he decided to go to the 'Rachel Berry House Party Extravaganza'. Did he hope to see his friends? Of course, that was really the only main reason. Did he hope that in the wake of wasted teenagers, Blaine would see him as the belle of the ball? Maybe. Did he expect Blaine to actually get surprisingly drunk and not able to stop himself from probably going as far as to flirt with a tree? That was not really foreseen.

"Kurt! Hhhheeeeeeeyyyyyyy…..Kurt. Hey."

Kurt breathed deeply through his nose. And because he wasn't psychic, he didn't predict that Blaine would turn into a 5 year old when he was intoxicated either. He really needed to start thinking things through.

"Kuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrtttttt-"

He turned to look in the back seat where Blaine was sprawled out. "What Blaine?"

Blaine turned to look at him. His mouth opened and closed, much like a fish, trying to find the words he was looking for. His thick eyebrows were scrunched up and his eyes were rolling around in his sockets. If he weren't extremely pissed, he would think it was adorable.

"…I forgot."

Kurt turned back and kept his eyes on the road. Since Finn had been dubbed as designated driver, and was stuck with the task of towing their friends to their respectable homes, Kurt was the only person in charge of dealing with the pile of limbs that Blaine had become. It was proving to be more difficult than he suspected.

"W-wait! I just rememberrrrred….Where are we going?"

His fingers clenched the steering wheel tighter and he kept his eyes forward. "For, let me see, the tenth time Blaine, we are going to my house since it's the closest to Rachel's. We will sleep in my room and in the morning we will return to Dalton before anyone becomes suspicious."

"Oh….wait, what?"

Kurt let out a low growl to which Blaine responded, "Oohhhh, is there a kitty in here?"

Kurt only had one thought. '_Fuck. My. Life._'

Somehow, Blaine had managed to grab a hold of the back of the driver's seat and hoist himself up so his chin rested over the edge. He let out a laugh and the warm air ghosted over Kurt's ear. A shiver ran up his spine and small groan crawled into his throat but he refused to let it out.

"K-Kurt, I'm tired." Blaine said in a small voice.

Kurt sighed. "Only a few more minutes to my house, Blaine."

The curly-headed boy nodded his head, his chin slipping a little of the leather. He was quick to pick himself back up. Kurt glanced up to look in the mirror and saw that Blaine's eye lids were dropping low. He stifled a giggle.

Minutes later, he pulled into the driveway of the Hummel-Hudson household. All of the inside lights were off, the only source of light being the porch light which was left on to ward off raccoons. Kurt breathed a sigh of relief. His dad and Carole were asleep and too far into dream world to wake up. He turned the engine off and turned to look back at Blaine.

The other boy was lying halfway off the back seat, his legs dangling off the side and his face pressed against the leather. His eyes were closed and by the way his breathing was starting to even out, Kurt figured that Blaine would only last a few more minutes before he became a useless pile of limbs.

"Blaine?" Kurt said in a soft gentle tone.

The sound of words being meshed together came from Blaine's general direction.

"Blaine?" Kurt leaned over the console and pushed Blaine's head to the side so he could speak. "Blaine?" Kurt asked again.

A head of curls shook as Blaine rose up from where his damp face had been pressed against the sticky leather. "Kurt?" He said in a voice that actually reminded the pale boy of a kindergartener. "Are we there yet?"

Kurt smiled down at him. "Yeah, we're here."

Kurt got out first and then helped Blaine lift his placid body out from the back seat of the car. The other boy was yawning, his eye lids drooping again, and it seemed that all the hype that the alcohol had caused had fled. He leaned most of his body against Kurt's side with and arm flung around each other's shoulders. Blaine smelt like the thick cologne he wore and with just a hint of vodka and the smell was strangely pleasant to Kurt.

Each step they took up the creaky porch sounded more like a gunshot than the little squeaky sound it made when Kurt made his visits. Why is it when you want to be as quiet as possible, everything in the universe seems to deem it appropriate to turn the dial up to 11? Opening the front door sounded more like banging a hammer into a wall, which made no sense whatsoever. Doors aren't supposed to sound like beating a wall into pieces; there suppose to sound like a lock quietly clicking into place. This was just proof that everything was against him, at all times.

Blaine only let out a few yawns, followed by mumbles that Kurt couldn't quite make out. When they made it to the stairs that led to the second floor, that's when things started going a little downhill.

"Blaine!" Kurt whisper-yelled. "Blaine! Lift your foot! We need to get up the stairs."

"….No."

Kurt looked at him with astonishment. "No?"

"Nope."

"_Blaine_." Kurt growled.

"What?" He said in a happy tone. He was really enjoying pissing off Kurt.

"Blaine! Lift your fucking foot or I will carry you up the stairs!"

"Okay."

Then Blaine was leaning his entire body weight on Kurt's lean frame, winding his arms around Kurt's neck and letting his knees buckle under the need for sleep. Kurt backed up against the wall in surprise. He was not expecting that. He was quick to wrap his arms around the shorter boy in order to stop him from falling face first to the floor.

This ended in what many would consider a _very _compromising situation: Blaine's face buried in Kurt's neck, his arms hanging over his shoulders, Kurt's arms firmly wrapped around Blaine's back and their legs tangled. Kurt had a slight sense of déjà vu, since he had dreamed them in this position multiple times, but the fact that Blaine was nearly asleep pretty much ruined the moment of gratitude.

Kurt turned away from the wall so his back faced the stairway. Well, apparently he would be carrying Blaine up the stairs since the other boy had a death lock around his shoulders. Kurt carefully took one step back and rose up onto the first ledge. He then took another step up and was surprised when Blaine actually picked his feet up the rest on the bottom step. They continued this process; Kurt stepping up one step and Blaine following on to the one bellow, his head resting under Kurt's chin.

They reached the top of the staircase in a few measly minutes. Kurt hefted Blaine up so his chin rested on his shoulder and walked backwards towards his room. It seemed that although Blaine refused to walk on his own, he was quite fine with moving his feet when Kurt was carrying most of his upper body along with him. They reached Kurt's door at the end of the hall and he freed one of his arms from its hold around Blaine to reach for the knob. Blaine slipped down and mumbled something into Kurt's chest.

Kurt looked down at him. "Blaine?"

He mumbled again and tried to bury himself in Kurt's red button down. Kurt shrugged of the lost words and opened the door to his room. He dragged Blaine into his room and laid him on his bed. He walked over to the tall lamp that stood in the corner and pulled the cord so one of the bulbs lit up.

"Blaine?"

The other boy's eyes fluttered open a bit and he looked to Kurt. "mhhhhkkkkwat?"

"Blaine, take off your shoes so we can go to bed." Kurt said before turning to go into his in room bathroom to change. He walked a few steps before stopping when he heard a small giggle. He turned around to look at Blaine, who was biting his lip to stop the laughter and flailing his hands over the bed.

"Are you having a seizure or something?"

Blaine stifled another laugh and lazily sat up, making him look like his bones were made jelly. He looked towards Kurt, his hazel eyes hazy with sleep and the aftermath of tequila. He wore the same goofy grin on his face that appeared whenever something he considered good happened.

"You said 'we'." Blaine managed to say before bursting into another fit of muffled giggles. Kurt tilted his head to the side and gave him the same look he gave Brittany when she said she was dressing up as peanut allergy for Halloween. "I'm sorry, what?"

Blaine giggled again and fell back on his side. "You said 'we can go to bed'. I get to sleep with you!"

Kurt had never been concerned for himself in his life. He hadn't always been worried about his taste in men. He did have some questions about why he fell so hard for Finn the previous year, what with having a pregnant girlfriend and Rachel Berry chasing after him as well. Then there was the brief affair of puppy love for Sam, who had turned out to be actually straight (although Kurt still had a lingering suspicion. No straight guy would die their hair the color of neon lights.). And then there was Blaine. Sure, the blazer and button down and manners made him seem like a proper, young man but in the end it was all a cover for a hyperactive two year old.

He turned around and proceeded to walk into the bathroom, leaving a sniggering Blaine who was trying to untie his shoes with only one hand. He silently questioned his sanity.

It took about 5 minutes for Kurt to strip off his clothes, fold them, and place them in the hamper and change into a plain white t-shirt and sweats. He walked out and saw Blaine sprawled out on the comforter. He had been able to get his shoes off, though one was still sitting on the bed. Kurt was quick to slap the shoe off the bed and he poked at Blaine's leg.

"Blaine, move. Your small body is somehow taking up the entirety of my queen-sized bed."

Blaine groaned but rolled over to the right side of the bed. Kurt was able to pull out the blankets from under Blaine's body and flipped them up. He took a step forward before a thought came to him. He was about to get in bed with another boy, and not just any boy, but _Blaine._ It was a strange thought that had only occurred to him now. He wasn't very picky about people touching him, but most of the people who did were either female or his dad. But if a guy were to touch his shoulder, he would jerk away. The touch of a male was so foreign to him that he didn't know any other way to react.

Kurt fiddled with his fingers for a moment. Blaine was probably already too far off into dream world for Kurt to wake him up to talk. He tried to rationalize with himself. So, Blaine was in his bed. It would be a lot more terrifying if he wasn't already knocked out cold. He could do this; he could survive one night of sharing a blanket with Blaine Anderson.

He went over and turned off the lamp before slowly making his way back to the left side of the bed. He flipped the covers over Blaine and then crawled in himself. He got as close to the edge of the bed and curled in on himself, the faux fur blanket that he had hugging his shoulders.

It was quiet for a few minutes, the only sound coming from the gentle breeze pushing against the large windows in the room. Kurt couldn't sleep. It was like his brain just wouldn't shut up. Thoughts kept racing in and out, having to be thoroughly analyzed before they were left alone. His eyes were flicking open and closed every few seconds as he kept trying to go to sleep. Kurt was getting irritated over his need to over think things.

And then he heard a rustle, the pull of blankets, the creak of the bed as a body moved. His heart stopped for a second as he felt a warm hand reach for him but miss, fingertips brushing along his spine.

"K-k-kurt." Said a sleepy voice.

Kurt looked over his shoulder at Blaine, who was still reaching for him with no success. His eyes were closed and his movements were similar to that of a sloth.

"What, Blaine?" Kurt said in a tiny voice that made him feel smaller than the curled up ball that he was. He turned to look back at the wall. If only to make him feel a little better.

Blaine kept reaching out for Kurt, his hands brushing over his back but not enough for him to grab a hold of him. Once he realized that he couldn't bring Kurt to him, he went with the second best option: bring himself to Kurt. He grasped the cotton sheets in his hands and used to the leverage to pull himself closer to the other boy.

Kurt's heart wasn't sure he had a heart anymore. It was beating so fast it could have potentially traveled the speed of light right out of his chest. His face was facing the wall. He couldn't see Blaine, but he could feel the heat of his body that came off in waves. It was like an open flame to a moth, and Kurt felt his body being drawn to it.

Blaine was only a few inches away, his hot breath blowing the back of Kurt's neck. He suppressed the shivers that desired to crawl up his spines and he lay still, waiting for Blaine to do anything. It was more like hours than a minute and Blaine stayed still. Kurt assumed he had fallen asleep again in his haste to get to Kurt.

But then an arm, warm and heavy, was wrapping around his waist and Blaine's chin was resting on his shoulder.

"Kurt." Blaine whispered into his ear.

The other boy remained solid as stone, his only movement being his throat swallowing.

"Kuuuurrrt," he whispered. "Ima snuggle you, kay."

His life just wasn't meant to be one of those sappy teen films where the kind and humble hero was able to win the love of his life in under a hour and thirty minutes, was it?

Blaine moved his face from Kurt's shoulder and pressed it against the back of his head, burying into his chestnut hair. He wiggled his other arm under Kurt and interlocked his fingers together, creating a lock around Kurt's torso. His legs curled up so he was molded to Kurt's body. It was like they were two pieces of a puzzle fitted together perfectly. Kurt relaxed after he was sure that Blaine had finally fallen fully asleep. He soon was caught by the weight of his eye lids and slipped away from consciousness.

*w* *w* *w*

When Kurt woke, rays of the rising sun were streaming in through the gaps in his curtains. He felt fully consumed by the warmth of the sheets that surrounded him and the comfort that flowed in his veins. He could lie in bed for hours like this, nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing expected of him. But he knew that couldn't happen. He needed to get back to Dalton before anyone grew suspicious of his whereabouts. Not to mention, he hadn't done his nightly moisturizing routine last night and god knows what his pores looked like right now.

Kurt tried to inch towards the edge of the bed, since he had somehow ended up in the very center, and was caught in someone's grip. Then last night's events hit him like a ton of bricks. The party, everyone wasted, a very hyper Blaine, and then later a very sleepy Blaine hugging him like his life depended on it.

He turned his slightly back and nearly burst into laughter at the sight that he saw. The whole right side of Blaine's face was pushed up against his shoulder blade. His lips were parted a bit and if Kurt wasn't mistaken he could see the faintest glimpse of drool. He was still in his red cardigan and t shirt from yesterday which were wrinkled. His hair, oh god, his hair. Kurt could write an essay on the ridiculousness of Blaine's hair. While it looked like a collection of soft curls when freshly washed of hair gel, it did not take that certain quality now. The gel had long lost its fight against the curls but not the underlying stickiness. Tufts of hair stood up randomly or were squished firmly in patches all over Blaine's scalp. It was truly adorable.

Kurt moved his hands slowly up so they wrapped around where Blaine's were pressed to his stomach. He painted a picture in his mind, of them just like this every morning. He breathed out a sigh, and the smile that had formed faded a little. Like that would ever happen. He curled the fingers and detangled himself from Blaine.

He silently crept from the bed towards the bathroom. It was about 7 o'clock in the morning, too early for his parents to be awake and far from where any of the Dalton boys would be rising. He was quick to use the toilet and then showered, feeling relaxed as the grime was washed away from his skin. His mind wandered, as it tended to do in the shower, to what had happened over the past few weeks.

Kurt had never lived a normal life, that much was true. Normalcy just wasn't his cup of tea. But even in his wildest dreams, he wouldn't be able to come up with the picture presented to him now: attending the prestigious Dalton Academy, meeting Blaine and the rest of the warblers, not to mention the murder he was now in charge of solving. It really was a thrill to think that he could solve a murder that no one could for fifty years just because he became friends with a ghost. Even if it did turn his life into a low budget mystery film.

He smiled to himself as he washed the suds from his hair. Life was actually okay at the moment. His grades were good, he had friends that cared for him, and he was finally in a safe place. Kurt could get use to this.

He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower to grab a towel. He dressed in a simple shirt and jeans before stepping out of the tiled room. Blaine was still asleep on his bed, his face buried under one of the crimson pillows. Kurt suppressed a laugh. Blaine looked like he was trying to escape the world by digging a tunnel through Kurt's bed.

He walked over to his amour and began to clean the gunk off from his face. It was a tiring process, but do you see any marks on his skin? I don't think so.

He started to finish up with moisturizer when-

"Kurt? You up there?"

'_Oh crap!'_ Kurt thought. His dad was up early. That didn't even make sense. His dad was notorious for sleeping in even as long as Finn did. He searched his mind for any plausible excuse he could you as to why he was at his own house that early in the day; he came up blank.

"Kurt, I saw your car out in the driveway. Kid, I wish you would have told me you we're going to come and visit this early in the mornin'."

He heard the fall of his father's footsteps and quickly ran across to open the door to his room and closed it behind himself, coming face to face with Burt Hummel.

"Kurt, what ar-"

"Hey dad!" Kurt was quick to cut his father off. "I just thought I'd come see you guys early today but you were still all asleep so I just waited in my room."

Burt's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, well it was nice of you to visit us Kurt but its-" he looked down at his watch, "7:30 in the mornin'. You know I don't normally get up before 10."

"I know dad, but then I wouldn't have been able to surprise you guys." Kurt gave his dad the most innocent smile. Lying wasn't something he liked to do, but when he did, he was damn good at it.

"Okay." Burt gave his son a skeptical look before turning back to his calm demeanor. "I'm actually glad I woke up at this time. As you know, Carole's birthday is coming up and as you also know I am not the greatest gift giver."

"You're telling me." A flash of the last Christmas where his father had yet again given another gift card to JCpennys crossed his mind.

"Yeah. I was hoping you could help me with that."

Kurt perked up. "Sure, dad. I already have a ton of ideas, now we might have to break out the big bucks but I'm sure you want nothing but the best for Carole."

Burt chuckled at his son's enthusiasm. "You read my mind, son. Why don't we go into your room and talk some more? I don't want Carole waking up and hearing any of this."

Kurt immediately paled. "U-uh, why not talk about this now? Carole probably won't be awake for another half-hour." A bit of nervous laughter came out at the end and Kurt internally scolded himself.

His father picked up on his edginess swiftly. "Kurt, what are you hiding in your room?"

It felt like all the blood in his body was rushing to his face. "N-nothing." He cleared his throat. "Nothing, dad."

Burt raised an eyebrow at his son, a motion that was somewhat similar to Kurt's. "You're lying to me." He said calmly. He then rushed forward and turned the doorknob.

Kurt only had a second to even think of what his father was doing before he barged into his room. The only thought that was able to properly form was _'Fuck Everything!'_. He turned around so quickly that he almost walked into his dad, who was standing in the doorway. He peeked over his shoulder and understood why his father was frozen. Blaine was awake.

Or close enough to awake that he knew he was in a substantial amount of pain. Blaine sat up on his elbows and rubbed a hand over his face. His eyes were squeezed shut, locking out any light. A groan escaped his lips. His skin looked pale and sickly and Kurt hoped that he wouldn't vomit on his bed.

He heard Blaine mumbled, "Where am I?" His eyes opened into slits as he looked around the room. After he concluded that he wasn't in a jail cell or a dark alley, he flopped back onto the bed and let out another groan at the pain pulsing in his head.

Burt slowly turned around to face Kurt. "Kurt Hummel, you have a lot of explaining to do." He said in a deathly, calm tone. Kurt backed away a bit. This isn't going to end well for him and Blaine. In fact, he'll be lucky if he's not joining Anna floating around the halls of Dalton.


	7. Chapter 6: Interlude I

_**This chapter took forever to write out, mostly because I was dealing with my own characters and they didn't want to cooperate with me. This is a little look into Anna's past with hints in it. Maybe some of you can figure out who the killer is before I write it ;). We'll see...**_

_**Song is 'Stuck on You' by Elvis Presley.**_

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><p>"<em>You can shake an apple off an apple tree<em>_  
><em>_Shake-a, shake- sugar,__  
><em>_But you'll never shake me__  
><em>_Uh-uh-uh__  
><em>_No-sir-ee, uh, uh__  
><em>_I'm gonna stick like glue,__  
><em>_Stick because I'm__  
><em>_Stuck on you"_

The warm wind blows by as Christina drives her jeep down the curving highway. The sky is clear and bright blue, not a single cloud in sight and she wishes she could stare at it all day. But she can't 'cause she has to drive the car. Out of the two of them, Christina is the only one with a driver's license even thought Anna is older than her, even if it's just by a few months. Anna herself sits in the passenger seat, chunky sunglasses on her face and her head thrown back as she sings along with Elvis. It's a bit muffled because of the wind, but Christina is still able to make out Anna's voice loud and clear.

It's the summer before they start they're junior year at Dalton Academy and since Christina had gotten her license the previous spring, they both decided to take a little road trip up to the great lakes. Their parents had let them go, since they were both kind and respectable girls who didn't get up to mischief when they weren't at school. Well, two out of three wasn't so bad. They are kind and respectable at all times to everyone; not because that's how they were raised, but because that's just how they are. They've been nice to everyone since preschool and far sooner than that.

Anna lets out a laugh loud enough to be heard over the roaring in Christina's ears. She's dressed in a loose white blouse that is on the verge of falling off her shoulders. The little ties in the v of her neckline are tied but only enough so that her shirt won't open up completely. You could say that Anna is the wild child. On her legs is a pair of light wash bell-bottom jeans which go down to her feet which are covered in cork wedges. Anna picks her feet up and rests them on the dashboard.

"Hey!" Christina turns towards Anna. "No feet on the dashboard! Anne, this isn't even my car, it's my dad's, you know that! I don't need him getting mad at me for having dirty footprints all over the car."

Anna looks over to her and lifts up her thick sunglasses. "Oh, Chrissy, calm down. We'll clean off the marks before we get back home and your father will never know otherwise." She laughs again and her sunglasses fall from where they were placed on her forehead. They knock her on the nose and Anna scrunches her face up. Christina laughs at her before turning back to look at the road, making sure to keep her hands are at 10 and 2. She has to make sure to be a safe driver, you know.

They continue down the curving road and sing along to the radio for another half hour before they see that glistening plane of water that is Lake Eerie. The city of Cleveland isn't so far off and the sight of buildings that are miraculously taller than the facilities of Dalton Academy is amazing to both teens.

They drive a few more minutes before Christina pulls off onto a dusty dirt road that is surrounded by tall, pale green grass that waves at them as they drive by. But then it cuts to trees, tall and thin and thick with leaves, and the surrounding area is blocked and the only thing that either of them can see is the road and the short, dark grass the lines the base of the trees. The air is even more humid here, and the once strong wind is now only a light breeze, the thick patch of trees blocking out any air flow. The only reason Christina and Anna aren't dead from heatstroke is because of the light wind that car creates as it speeds down the road.

Eventually the trees start to thin out and the lake comes into view. The trees start to trail out until it is just sparse trees every so often and the short coarse grass that lined the trees before. Gunmetal sand starts to replace dirt and the sun comes back into view, dousing the girls in heat. Christina wonders how it is even this hot in Ohio because, seriously, this heat is more of what you would find in places like California or Texas or any sub-tropical place.

She pulls the car to a stop at where the green turns to gray. Before she even has a chance to think about turning the car off though, Anna is already rushing towards where the water comes up and down the shore in slow motion.

"If I don't get in the water now, I'm going to die, Christina! Did you hear me? Die!" Anna yells. She throws her bag to the ground and starts to strip her shirt to reveal the top of a bright yellow bikini. Christina rolls her eyes and turns the ignition off. This kind of thing is normal from Anna. She goes and does things that would seem inappropriate to other girls, and yet Christina understands that if Anna didn't do them, she wouldn't be Anna.

She watches as Anna trips a little while trying to pull her foot out from her jeans and barely saves herself from falling face first into the sand. Christina laughs at her and gets out of the jeep. She goes to the trunk and retrieves the picnic basket and blanket they had packed together along with Christina's own bag. The sounds of splashing and a sigh come from the background. Christina shakes her head and her blonde curls bounce around her. She refuses to use of obscene amount of hairspray that the other girls use to coat their helmet hair. It's disgusting and Christina wonders how those girls don't suffocate on it.

Christina walks over to right where the water crept up the shore. She lays the blanket down and smoothes out the creases before placing the basket down. Anna walks over to the blanket, dripping wet. Her hair hangs limply over her forehead and shoulders. And then she shakes like a dog, flecks of water going everywhere, but mostly hitting Christina in the face.

"Ack-ha-Ann-eck-Anna!" Christina chokes out, wiping the water from her face and spitting out what landed in her mouth. It tastes more like dirt and sunscreen than actual water and Christina finds that a bit disturbing.

Anna holds up a hand to lift her wet hair out of her face. "Oh, sorry there, Christina." She reaches into her own bag and grabs a baby blue towel to wrap herself in. Christina slaps her forehand and then slowly drags the hand down her face to wipe off any drops that she might have missed.

"Ugh, what is in that water?" Christina asks while she goes to dig through her bag for a water bottle. For some reason, the taste of lake scum just won't escape her mouth.

Anna just laughs at her friend as she tries to rinse out her mouth. She doesn't think there is anything wrong with the water. It was more cool and refreshing to her than a punishment. She wipes the last of the water off her face and places the towel down on the hardened sand beneath her feet. She lays it out, smoothing the wrinkles, before laying down herself.

Christina just looks at Anna. Sometimes, it amazes her how comfortable Anna is with herself. Quite frankly, she's a little jealous of it.

It's then that she realizes that her tank top is sticking uncomfortably to her skin. She's wearing her own swim suit beneath it and yet she hesitates at taking it off. Most of the time she is calm and confident, but even then a smidge of insecurity seeps in through the cracks in her shield.

Her fingers fiddle with the top of the shirt, running over the once yellow but now more greenish fabric. It's cold and damp and honestly she would rather just be in her swimsuit, lying under the sun. But then the darn voice comes back. It's tiny and sounds like a broken record every time it whispers in her ear 'do you think you're good enough?'. She pushes it back, always pushes it back, and sometimes she is actually able to forget about it. But eventually it returns, just the same.

"Hey."

Christina snaps out of her thought process to look down at Anna, who is staring at her with wide eyes. "What?" She asks.

Anna waves her hand down, motioning for Christina to lie down. "Would you put your brain to rest and stop being so self-conscience? You're beautiful and everyone around you knows it."

Christina shakes her head and places her hands on her hips. "Says you," she scoffs. "Miss 'all the boys won't leave me alone'."

The brunette shakes her head and flings her arm over her eyes to block the sun, the sunglasses having been pushed up her forehead. A small smile graces her lips. "Please. You and I both know that there is no chance my father would allow me to date. And that's not even including the fact that there are just no real interesting boys attending Dalton."

"Yes, of course." Christina says in a teasing tone. She decides to for-go changing out of her clothing and just lies down beside Anna on the towel.

The blazing heat has gone down to a light simmer and a small breeze passes over them and through the trees. The quiet is deafening and the blanket of calm that has come over them makes both of them start to fidget in their skin.

"So," Anna says because, as nice as the quiet is, it's a bit uncomfortable to be honest. "How are things going with Everett?"

Christina flushes at the name. Everett. Everett, the boy who has been following her around like a lost puppy for the majority of the last school year, along with a part of the summer. Everett, blonde and tall and stunningly handsome.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Anna actually laughs at her; a laugh that's long and loud and makes your own stomach hurt just from how strong it is. She just stares at her, wide eyes and deep frown, and it just make Anna laugh harder because to her, Christina looks a little like a cartoon character at the moment.

Anna turns so she is facing Christina. "Oh god, you liar! And it wasn't even a good lie!" She bursts into another fit of laughter, and this time Christina can't help but join in. Well, she can admit, it was a terrible lie.

The laughter fills her body with a warm, light feeling that floods into every crevice of her insides. By the time she is able to get her breathing under control, her abdomen aches and Anna is still a little red in the face.

"Oh, dear lord, my stomach." Anna mummers. Christina can sympathies, her stomach feels like someone punched it. Anna turns towards her and pats at her arm, like she's trying to get her attention, but it looks more like she's trying to get Christina to give her some oxygen. She continues to pat at Christina and goes as far as to bury her face in her neck.

Its a couple more minutes before either one of them can appear to be a sane person. Anna rolls back onto her back and looks up to the sky with a smile.

"Okay, no, I was serious. I really want to know about you and Everett." Anna said in a breathy voice.

Christina looks up to the sky as well, but only to hide her blush. "He's…nice. He opens doors for me, asks to carry my books…"

Anna gives her knowing look. "Has he asked you on a date yet?"

Christina nods her head sharply, but doesn't say anything. Anna looks at her and nods for her to say anything.

"Y-yes," Christina stutters out. She clears her throat and keeps going. "Well, he has asked, but I haven't given him an answer."

Anna raises an eyebrow at her. "Oh." She simply says. She mulls over the words in her head before replying. "Well, are you going to give him an answer?"

Christina doesn't answer, because, honestly, she doesn't know. Everett is nice and kind and very, very handsome, but something seems a little off about him, or at least when he's around her and Anna. And he only really comes around when it's just her and Anna, which is even stranger. At times though, it seems like Anna won't let her be alone with Everett. It gets annoying sometimes, like when she actually does want to talk to Everett.

"I…I don't know." She says.

Anna looks at her skeptically. She knows there's an answer buried deep inside Christina's brain, but she isn't willing to let it out. Anna will wait, if she has to. Anna needs to know the answer, mostly for herself, if not to determine the rest of time.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Review if you can please! Reviews are like delicious treats for me<strong>_


	8. Chapter 7

**_School got canceled today (and Tamika cried in joy) so I decided to post early, I was going to post on Friday but given the circumstances I thought this would be better. And now we have entered the 'Sexy' episode. And things are about to take a turn for the scandalous. (I got that from somewhere, I just can't remember.) Anyway, welcome to the insanity!_**

* * *

><p>After the disastrous encounter between his dad and Blaine (something he would probably have to have therapy to treat), he and Blaine made a mad dash back to Dalton, beating most of the boys before they woke up. That wasn't surprising at all.<p>

So now, it was Tuesday of the next week and Kurt and Blaine were actually able to get up early so they could go and enjoy the atmosphere of the Lima Bean. But of course, because he was Kurt Hummel and the universe was always out to get him, that just had to be ruined. And it wouldn't just be perfect if the form of absolute destruction wasn't Sue Sylvester.

Kurt stood still while Sue rambled on about what New Directions was currently up to. It was shocking that he found her rants somewhat soothing. He guessed that it reminded him a bit about 'home'. Blaine was lost though. He was just smiling and nodding but Kurt could see the sense of confusion in his eyes. Kurt tried to explain Sue to him, but that was like explaining why Hannah Montana ever became popular.

Sue followed them as they ordered, paid, and received their coffee, coming along even when they went to grab some artificial sweetener. Kurt tended to not listen to Coach Sylvester most of the time. He had learned his lesson during his brief stint on the Cheerios. But there are times when Sue says something and you can't stop listening to it. That was one of those times.

So, New Directions was doing sexy. Well, it was a good thing that he was at Dalton. He has as much sexual appeal as a rock.

He declined Sue any information and she left with her cup full of boiling water and paper sugar packets.

"We got to hold an emergency meeting." Blaine said seriously.

Kurt turned to look at him. "Why?" He asked.

"Weren't you listening," Blaine looked at him with wide eyes. "The judges at Regionals have an eye out for something new which means," Blaine got a determined look on his face, like the one he had gotten when he decided they would solve a murder. Wait, oh no…

"The warblers got to do something sexified."

Kurt looked around at the other people in the Lima Bean, but none of them were watching them or giving them any weird looks.

He turned back to look at Blaine. "Okay, I'm pretty sure that 'sexified' isn't a real word. And I am glad that no one was around to hear it come out of your mouth."

Kurt walked towards their table, Blaine close at his heels. "But besides that fact that you use unrealistic words, I'm not quite sure you should listen to Sue."

Kurt sat down in his usual chair and looked at Blaine with a raised brow. Blaine sat down and took a sip. "What do you mean?" Blaine asked.

The other boy let out a breathy laugh. "Ah, poor, sweet, Blaine. You are about to learn your first lesson in 'How to deal with a one Sue Sylvester'."

Blaine let out his own laugh and nodded for Kurt to continue.

"Well, rule number one is that no matter how sincere Sue appears to be, take everything she says with a grain of salt."

Blaine nodded at him, but his smile gave the fact that he didn't understand Kurt at all.

"Okay," Kurt rested his coffee on the table. "Sue once tried to separate the glee club by telling us that Mr. Shuester didn't care about the minority students."

Blaine choked a little on his coffee. "W-what?"

He laughed at Blaine's now red face. He knew he shouldn't be laughing at Blaine but he looked incredibly adorable with his cheeks a deep pink. He watched as Blaine patted at his chest and cough violently.

"A-agh! You are a-"Another violent cough-"a horrible person!"

Kurt just kept laughing and eventually he had to cover his mouth because his laughs were getting as violent as Blaine's coughing. Every time he tried to talk, the coughing would just get a bit worst and Kurt's laughing would as well. And then Kurt started coughing because the laughing had started to cut off his air supply.

Blaine had begun to calm down when Kurt started up on his own coughing fit.

"Oh, oh!" Blaine shouted, pointing over at Kurt. "Karma is paying you back, my friend!"

Kurt glared over at him, unable to maintain eye contact because the coughing made him double over. He took another five minutes for Kurt to calm down. When Kurt was able to get his breathing under control, Blaine got up and threw away his now empty cup.

He walked back to Kurt and patted his back. "Well, I suggest you finish up. Classes start in about ten minutes."

Kurt nodded and gathered his things and the half full cup of coffee. Blaine stood by his side and waited for him before the both of them headed towards the exit.

"You know," Blaine said as he pushed open the door, "I'm still going to propose we have a warblers meeting."

Kurt looked at him skeptically. "Oh, and why is that?"

"Because, although Sue isn't exactly a reliable source, she still had a point." Blaine pointed out. Kurt simply hummed in response. He knew where this was heading.

"The judges will be looking for something new, and, hey, maybe a sexy number is just what we need to win them over."

_Well_, Kurt thought as he and Blaine traveled down the sidewalk back to Dalton, _I'm completely screwed_.

*w* *w* *w*

Blaine was able to get an emergency Warblers meeting called (_cough_fanclub_cough_) so all of his fellow warblers were called out early from third period to meet in the Warblers council room. Kurt sat on one of the plush leather couches that inhabited the room along with his fellow comrades.

The council sat behind their table, discussing something in hushed whispers. Blaine stood in the corner, preparing himself for his proposal to the group.

Wes turned to face the rest of them and banged his beloved gavel on the table. "Quiet, please!" He shouted over the voices. Everyone stopped talking and turned to face the front of the room. "Thank you. I would like officially begin this emergency warblers meeting, which was called for at the request of junior member Blaine Anderson."

Kurt smiled at Blaine as he walked forward to stand right beside the council's table. "Thank you, Wes."

He turned to address the whole room. "I'm sorry, my fellow warblers, that I had to pull you out of class for this-"

"Don't be!" Jeff called out from the back of the room. "I had a test in French!"

"Yeah!" Nick, who sat beside him, agreed.

The Warblers burst into laughter at the two friends before Wes silenced them with his gavel. Blaine laughed at his friends and returned back to his speech. "Something has come to my attention. This morning, while I and your fellow warbler Kurt," he looked at him with bright eyes, and Kurt felt himself blush, "we encountered the new coach of Aural Intensity, Sue Sylvester."

A storm of mummers broke out but Wes silenced it again.

"And while she did not succeed in getting any information out of his, she unknowingly gave us some information of her own. The judges at Regionals are looking for something…well, sexy."

Whispers flooded the room again, even the council turned to each other to talk. Only Kurt was left with himself. Not that he doesn't want to discuss the Regionals setlist, he does. But not when it involves the possibility of one of the performances being, ugh, _sexy._

The sound of hard wood being pounded brought them all back from their thoughts or conversations to look at Wes. He cleared his throat and looked to Blaine. "And what are you proposing we do about this, Blaine?"

Blaine gave him a big grin. "I have an idea."

Kurt inwardly groaned. He had had enough experience to know that those words lead to disaster.

"Now, I'm not suggesting we make any permanent changes to the setlist, but I think that a practice performance would help us loosen up."

A sound of agreement resonated throughout the room. Kurt couldn't believe it. He had to stop this before they all did something incredibly stupid. He raised his hand high above his head, effectively quieting the room.

Wes nodded at him. "Yes, Kurt?"

Kurt stood up and threaded his fingers together. "As great as Blaine's idea sounded, I would have to greatly disagree. A sexy performance could possibly give the judges the feeling that we are trying to seduce them, which trust me, would not play out well for us."

Most of the warblers shared looks with each other across the room. Kurt glanced over them and stepped closer to council's table. "Although, I do agree with Blaine's idea of a performance helping us loosen, I don't think a 'sexy' one would do the same job as say a theatrical one."

More conversations occurred around the room over Kurt's word and he felt a bubble of pride fill inside himself. Having random conversations happen over his own was always something he wanted to happen. It was just practice for dealing with the paparazzi.

Thad cleared his throat. "Um, Kurt, while I can see why you would think that, there is no way that would happen with Blaine leading us." His voice was hard and sharp and it made Kurt take a step back. All the other warblers flinched away.

"Well, Thad, I was just suggesting-"

The older boy raised his hand to silence Kurt. "Kurt, I think it would be best if you sat down and let the council discuss this."

Kurt felt the anger rise in him, but he nodded and returned back to his seat. He wished he could lash out at Thad with his words, or at least bring Mercedes over so she could cut a bitch, but that would just diminish any chance of him getting a solo at all.

Wes slammed his gavel down. "Okay, the council will commiserate on this and we will make a decision at the end of the day. This meeting is adjourn." He slammed the gavel down a final time and all the warblers stood up to leave for an early lunch.

Kurt grabbed his things slowly, constantly glancing over at the council while they talked. He was the last one to leave the room besides the council. The second he walked out of the room he was sneak attacked by Blaine.

"Any reason why you didn't back me up?" Blaine said annoyingly. Kurt rolled his eyes at him and continued walking towards the cafeteria.

"It's not that I didn't want to back you up, it was just that I didn't think it was a very good idea." Kurt shrugged.

Blaine looked at him with hurt eyes. "Well, you could have told me before I went up there to propose it to the council."

"Yes, but" Kurt took a few steps forward before spinning around to face Blaine, "that would have involved bruising your ego and I just can't bring myself to do that."

Blaine smirked at Kurt's teasing tone, prompting the other boy to smirk back at him. He walked backwards the rest of the way. "Ouch, Kurt." Blaine brought his hands to cover his heart. "That hurt like a punch to the face."

Kurt smiled at him. It was times like these, where Blaine was just like any other teenage guy. He liked Blaine more when he didn't have to be the well-mannered lead of the Warblers, but just Blaine Anderson, a guy who just happened to love singing and drinking coffee and drawing in the corners of his papers. It was more than nice; it was almost like only Kurt was able to really see Blaine. And Kurt really liked what he saw. It was bit unfair though that no one else was allowed to see. But maybe Kurt liked it that way more.

*w* *w* *w*

Another meeting was called by the end of the day, filling the slot of their regular daily meeting. Kurt and Blaine met up before they walked through the oak double doors. The room was already half filled with chattering boys, the council sitting as still as statues behind their desk.

They sat and Wes banged his gavel on the table, signaling the start of the meeting. David was quick to write down the tome and held his pencil expectedly in his hand, waiting for anyone to say something.

"The council has made up a decision concerning Blaine Warbler's proposal that we do a more provocative performance." Wes said.

Thad continued. "And considering this as a whole, we have decided that a practice performance would be helpful to us all."

Cheers erupted over the room. Kurt slumped in his seat and braced his face between his thumb and forefinger. Fuck. Everything.

"Now, now," Wes yelled over the boys, all quieting to hear what else he had to say. "We have also decided on a song. 'Animal' by Neon Trees. Perhaps some of you have heard of it."

Another round of applause. Kurt was familiar with the song. The more he thought about it, the more he agreed that it was a good choice for the Warblers. It definitely had the tone that the warblers generally gave off when they performed.

Blaine raised his hand, patiently waiting for the council to call on them. David nodded at him and he stood up.

"I have a quick question." Blaine said curtly. All of the council nodded their heads at him. They reminded Kurt of that group of busts from the Haunted Mansion.

"Who will we be performing this to?"

Wes quirked an eyebrow. "Why, the school, of course."

Blaine shook his head. "I don't think that's the best idea. If we want to see if we can properly perform a sexy number, we need to see if it can affect the audience. While some of the boys may give us back feedback, for a better result, we would need to draw in the attention of the entire audience."

Everyone nodded. They had no idea what he was talking about. Kurt knew. He was confused as well.

"What I'm saying," Blaine spinned on the ball of his foot to face the rest of them, "is that in order to get the greatest reaction, we need to do the performance to an all female crowd."

Some of the boys looked up like they had just heard that they were given a million dollars. Although, Kurt guessed, they must not have seen a girl in at least two months. At least a real one anyway.

Thad smiled over at him. "And who do you suppose we perform to?"

Blaine turned back to face Thad with a smile. Kurt was certainly not amused.

"Well, I was thinking we could invite the Songbirds from our sister school, Crawford Country Day."

And then everyone suddenly shut up. Kurt glanced around him. Okay, weird.

Wes cleared his throat to bring attention to himself. "Yes, well. We're going to need someone to go over to the school and invite them. Do we have any volunteers?"

Nobody raised their hand to this. Okay, now this was seriously weird. Kurt would have suspected that most of them would've been game to go visit an all girls school.

Thad was quick to fix that though. "I say we volunteer our newest warbler, Kurt."

Said boy pursed his lips and raised a brow. This may be the weirdest meeting ever. And now everyone was staring at him with wide eyes, waiting for his answer. "Well, I see no reason why not." He said.

There were a few gasps and a lot of shocked faces. Okay, was there another murder mystery that he didn't know about because he already had one on his plate and he was sure another would push him over the edge.

Thad smiled evilly at him. He had a glint his eyes. "Thank you, Kurt. Would any one like to volunteer to go along with Kurt on his visit?"

Somewhere off in the distance, a cricket chirped.

Blaine looked around with wide eyes, sensing the hesitation. "I'll go with him."

Kurt nearly swooned. He had gotten over wanting to be a princess, but maybe he would keep the knight in shining armor.

Thad shook his head. "B-Blaine, you don't have to do that, really. Kurt could go on his own-"

"No, Thad, I won't allow it." He said firmly. Kurt could have fainted from the chivalry.

Wes turned to Thad. "It is Blaine's decision. If he wants to go along with Kurt, he can."

_Uh oh_, Kurt thought sarcastically, _I think mommy and daddy are fighting again_.

David had to pull Wes back from his and Thad's staring competition. Well, it was settled then. Blaine and Kurt would journey over to Crawford Country Day and invite over the female version of the warblers, the Songbirds.

Kurt internally scoffed. He didn't see what the big deal was. He was already living with a ghost, nothing really fazed him now. So, how bad could it be?

*w* *w* *w*

An hour later he sat cross-legged on his bed, blankly staring at the book in his lap. Whoever thought having Pig Latin as a required class clearly never met a teenager in their life.

"What are you doing?"

He looked up to see Anna looking down on him from where she was floating above him.

"Studying a language I will probably never use in my life." He said in a defeated tone. He looked back up to Anna. "How was your day today?"

Anna clicked her tongue at him. "Kurt, you have to study." She said in a sing-song voice.

Kurt shook his head and placed his pencil behind his ear. He leaned back on his hands and looked back at Anna. "No, seriously, tell me what happened today. I think it would distract me from the bizarre day that I had."

The girl giggled and did a somersault before settling on the dresser in front of the bed.

"Well, I went through those magazines you gave me again. I'm still surprised by how much fashion has changed in the years. Quite frankly, I'm even a little insulted. If my father had ever seen me dressed in those things, he would have disowned in less than a second."

Kurt laughed as the spirit continued to rant. The magazines that Kurt had gotten her last week had really paid off distracting her. But as it turned out, Anna wouldn't stop discussing it. She had enjoyed the magazines a little too much. Every time she started out though, Kurt had to stop himself from laughing himself into a coma. The things that girl could come up with.

He ran a hand through his hair, having lost its height over the day. The first two buttons on his shirts were undone and his tie was pulled loose around his neck. It had turned into one of though those days were he just needed to lay sprawled out on his bed for a few hours.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts and Anna's rants about the length of dresses. Kurt sat up and looked at the door.

"Who is it?" He called out from the bed. He felt too lazy to actually get up to answer the door.

"Kurt? It's me, Blaine."

"Come in!" He yelled and flopped back onto the comforter.

He heard the door open and click shut.

"Hello, Blaine." Anna said, laying her body out flat like a cat on the dresser.

Blaine waved at her. "Hi, Anna."

He looked over to Kurt and chuckled under his breath. "Why, hello there, Kurt."

"Hello, Blaine." Kurt drawled out the words.

Blaine simply lay down by Kurt's side. His breathing didn't hitch, mostly because it stopped entirely. Blaine's arm brushed against his own, his skin touching because Blaine had foregone the button down and stayed only in one of his many white v-necks.

"So, about Crawford Country Day…"

Kurt turned his face. "Oh, yeah. I was thinking we could go to the school tomorrow after last class and talk to whoever directs the Songbirds."

Blaine nervously laughed. "Uh, Kurt, it isn't actually that easy."

"Okay, is there like some other secret murder that I need to know about. Anna is great, but I don't think I could deal with another ghost."

The curly-headed boy snickered when Anna let out an exasperated "Hey!" and turned his body to curl against Kurt's. He shivered at the touch but didn't back away.

"No, no, it's just…the girls at Crawford are a bit…territorial." Blaine said.

"What are they like cats or something?" Kurt said in a teasing tone. It was hilarious to watch Blaine try and explain this to him.

"Well, no-maybe-actually, yes. They are like cats."

Kurt tilted his head and looked at Blaine with questioning eyes.

Blaine cleared his throat. "Well, see, ever since the...ever since Anna, the girls of Crawford haven't taken politely to Dalton. Or boys in general. Sure, they have boyfriends but most of them come from other private schools that are out of town. But any boy who isn't recognizable by any of the girls is attacked. Basically, if we try to step a foot on campus, we'll get a punch in the…coconuts."

Kurt gapped at him. "But can't we just tell one of the faculty that we-"

"Pointless. Even if the faculty knew we were there, the Songbirds would still go all Fight Club on us."

"So why did you even suggest we invite them?"

"I thought it was a good idea at the time." Blaine shrugged. Kurt thought it was a bit weird that he was still able to do that while lying down.

Kurt turned his head back to stare at the ceiling. "What are we going to do then?"

"Well, if you ask me," Anna said from the top of the dresser, "I say just become a girl."

Kurt sat up to glare at her. "Anna, Blaine and I just can't become girls at a seconds notice."

"Wait."

Blaine placed his hand on Kurt's shoulder and used it pull himself up. "Anna might have a point."

Kurt scoffed. "And what would that point be?" He crossed his arms and turned his eyes on Blaine.

Blaine got up from the bed and stood in front of Kurt. "We might not be able to become a girl for one day, but we can dress as them."

The gears in Kurt's head were turning too quickly for even him to catch up. He was going to need so aspirin after this.

"Are you suggesting we…?"

"We what?" Anna perked up. "I missed something didn't I? This is what I get for only listening to snippets of conversations."

"Yes, I am suggesting that." Blaine gave him a devilish grin.

Kurt groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Why am I letting you drag me into this?"

"Because I'm your best friend and you just can't say no to me." Blaine walked back towards the door with a skip in his step.

"Where are you going?" Kurt yelled after him.

"To get some plaid skirts. I have a feeling were going to be needing them." Blaine yelled back before he closed the door behind him.

_Now_, Kurt thought, _I am definitely SCREWED._

* * *

><p><em><strong>I'm planning on writing a book (an ACTUAL book) with supernatural themes as well but not like this story at all. I already made cards with what the characters will look like.<strong>_

_**Again, all I ask is for sweet, sweet reviews from you dear readers. That, and Darren Criss but that seems highly unlikely.**_


	9. Chapter 8

**_I'm not sure how this chapter came to be. I think it was a combination of coffee ice cream and gumdrops. But the idea had been around for a little while because of how I was planning out the story so..._**

**_So a little real life that I think is funny: I showed a picture of Darren to one of my freshman friends and she actually thought that Darren was my boyfriend. I chuckled._**

**_Also some good news. a) the next chapter is almost done already and I couldn't stop laughing while writing it so let's hope that's a good sign and b) its snowing again right now. I would say its at about 3 feet so let's all hope that I don't have school tomorrow so I can work on chapter 10. _**

**_Now let us venture into insanity!_**

* * *

><p>"Ah, Blaine! It's too tight."<p>

"Well, do you think I'm having any less trouble?"

"I'm a lot bigger than you think, you know."

"Listen, you'll just have to squeeze to get in."

"Ugh, why are we doing this in my car after school? We could have just done this in my dorm. I don't have a roommate so we wouldn't have been caught!"

"Yes, but someone might have heard us!"

Kurt let out an exasperated sigh and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. This was not how he wanted things to go.

"And," Blaine added, "I don't think we would've been able to sneak out of your room in drag."

Kurt scoffed and fixed the skirt that hung from his waist. "You clearly under-estimate my ninja skills, Blaine."

The other boy laughed from his place in the backseat. Kurt's Navigator was parked out behind the pristine brick building that was Crawford Country Day. School had been let out thirty minutes ago, the campus now mostly scarce of any students. The day had been dulled by gray clouds that had rolled in early in the morning. Kurt and Blaine had sat in the car, watching the girls as they left from the school in a totally non-creeper like way. But it's hard to see it that way when Kurt's car also has tinted windows.

It got even more not-creepy when, after the coast was clear, they had started to change into plaid knee-length skirts.

"Why do I feel like a swat team should be busting the windows out of my car?" Kurt mumbled as he pulled on a pair of knee-high bobby socks.

"'I bust the windows out your car, and no, it didn't mend my broken heart…'" Blaine sang until Kurt turned around to glare at him. That song only brought on awkward memories.

"I'm not sorry." Blaine said with a stern face.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Shut up, and hand me my wig."

Blaine reached around into the back of the car and pulled out a light brown, long haired wig. He handed it to Kurt and then turned back to grab a curly, black wig for himself.

Kurt turned back from his place in the passenger seat. They were doing this whole cross-dressing thing a little too well.

He flicked down the visor and used the mirror to properly place the hairpiece on his head. "How did you get this stuff again?"

Blaine popped back up from the back, blush smeared across his cheeks. "Let's just say that I'm going to be broke for the rest of the month."

"That's not fair, who's going to pay for my coffee? Hand me the mascara." Kurt said desperately.

"But I need the mascara!" Blaine whined.

Kurt gave him the 'bitch, please' look. "Blaine, you already have full lashes, you don't need mascara. It would just make you look like a hooker."

Blaine had an incredulous look on his face. He squinted his eyes and said, "I'm not sure if I should be flattered or insulted."

Kurt huffed. "Take it as both and hand me the fucking mascara."

Blaine complied and Kurt turned back to the visor mirror to apply a light coat to his lashes. He was thankful that he had had a slight phase in sophomore year when he would a light amount of make-up to his face to highlight his features. It became a bit useless when the make-up was ruined by a slushie.

Kurt was quick to pull on the off-white oxford and looped the gray tie around his neck. He was lucky that the uniforms were loose enough that they didn't need to add any…padding in the chest area.

Blaine had him hold up a mirror so he could fix his own wig into braids behind his ear. He pulled a bit of the false hair across his forehead and pinned it down.

"How do I look?" Blaine asked.

Kurt pulled back the mirror and hugged it to his chest. "You could be Miss Ohio," Kurt said sarcastically, "if you shaved your legs."

"Ha, ha, ha." Blaine said monotonously. He reached into the back of the car while Kurt fixed his own wig, which he decided to just have straight. Blaine returned a moment later with two dark blue sweater vest that each had an emblem printed on both of them.

"The more accurate this gets, the more concerned I am." Kurt grabbed the fabric and pulled it over his head. It hung off his body loosely like the button down and felt itchy where it touched his neck in the back. They both pulled on a pair of Mary Janes (again Kurt questioned where Blaine had actually gotten all of that stuff) and checked their faces in the mirror again.

"You make a way better girl than me." Blaine said, itching at his neck.

Kurt looked at him. "I have sharper features than you, if that's what you're getting at. You just happen to have a stronger jaw line."

Blaine hummed and nodded his head. "I suppose. And that fact that my eyebrows are thicker than my own hair."

Kurt waved him off. "Would you stop with your eyebrows? They're perfectly fine." He dragged his fingers through the fake hair and looked out the window to the school building. "Are you ready?"

Blaine bent down and fixed his socks so they covered his knees. "I think so. Are you?"

"Yeah." Kurt gripped the door handle, holding his breath. "Oh god, if we die, I am so haunting Thad."

"You're not going to die." Blaine persuaded. He slid over to the door and gripped the handle as well. "I think." He mumbled under his breath.

Kurt's eyes widened and he turned to look at him. "Wait, what-"

"No time, the Songbirds practice ends in half an hour." He said quickly before jumping out of the car and slamming the door shut.

Kurt sighed. "The things I do for love." He pulled the handle and stepped out of the car.

*w* *w* *w*

Getting into the school was easier than Kurt expected. All the doors were still unlocked and all the hallways that lead to the main building were clear of any girls. However, finding the Songbirds practice room proved to be more of a challenge than Kurt expected.

"What do you mean you don't know where it is?" Kurt whispered harshly.

Blaine backed up a bit. "I distinctly remember the whole 'boy on campus will die' discussion we had yesterday."

Kurt groaned and slapped his forehead. "Is there some sort of map that we could use?"

"I wish." Blaine muttered. "We need one of those maps that have the 'You Are Here' sticker on it."

They continued down that main hall of the building. The walls were cream colored and lead to towering windows that veered to cover the ceiling as well. Kurt thought that the place would look beautiful with the sun pouring in, but at the moment, with the swirling veil, it gave the passageway an eerie feeling. The sound of their heels echoed behind them as they looked at signs to see if they could figure out where they were.

After a series of detours, they made their way into a square room that had three other exits. On the wall opposite of Kurt and Blaine, there was a glass case with several different pictures and awards in it.

Kurt was intrigued by it and walked towards it. He could see several pictures, most in color but a few in black and white. The amount of trophies could rival the ones that Coach Sylvester had in her office. The gold gleamed in the spotlights that hung over head. His eyes scanned over every caption: karate, basketball, tennis. These girls had some serious skill.

Blaine came up beside him and read the headings under the pictures. He seemed to freeze when he came to a old picture of a group of smiling girls in regular uniform.

"What is it?" Kurt asked quietly.

Blaine's eyes remained on the picture. His brows furrowed in concentration. "Christina Monroe. I know that name."

"How do you know it?"

Blaine licked his lips. "I…I think Anna said it once, while we were talking. She was…she was her best friend."

Kurt turned to look at the picture himself. The girl in the very center, he figured, was Christina. By the looks of the picture, she had light hair and was a bit shorter than most of the other girls surrounding her.

"She looks, well looked, nice." Kurt concluded.

Blaine took in a deep breath. "She could have killed Anna."

Kurt's lips turned into a thin line and he nodded. He knew what Blaine meant when he said that. It meant that, no matter how nice someone looked, it didn't mean they were. Everyone was guilty until proven innocent in this situation.

He looked closer at the heading under the picture and read it out load. "'First Year Songbirds, 1965 National Show Choir Winners, Lead By Christina Monroe, Four-time Ohio State Singing Contest Winner.'"

Kurt pulled his face away from the glass, perplexed. "That's odd." He said to himself.

"What's odd?" Kurt jumped a little at Blaine's voice. He had almost forgotten that he was there.

"It's just," Kurt paused to rub at his temple, "wasn't Anna the singing prodigy?"

"Yeah." Blaine nodded.

"Well, if she was, then why did Christina win the two years before her death?"

Blaine perked up. "Oh, I actually know this. Anna was tired of the singing contest circuit so she quit when she got into highschool. Christina could sing as well, just not quite good enough to sing like Anna, but she was talented."

Kurt folded his left arm over his chest and rested his chin on his other hand. His mind kept buzzing with ideas.

"But," Blaine continued, "Anna still won out on singing things, even if it wasn't a competition. Events at school, assemblies, even just general things like hanging out with friends. Everyone would rather her Anna than Christina."

Kurt's eyes were downcast; his brain was thinking of every possibility it could come up with. He only listened when one that made any reasonable sense came up.

"What," Kurt pointed his index finger up, "what if Christina did do it? What if she did out of jealousy?"

"Would someone kill over singing abilities?" Blaine asked, obviously thinking the idea was far-fetched.

Kurt let his arms fall and instead grasped his hands behind his back and started pacing the floor. "Not so much singing, but more attention. I mean, think about it. If your best friend got all the attention over you, wouldn't you get a bit tired of it after a while?"

The other boy thought about it for a moment and was about to say something when they heard a sound come down one of the halls.

Kurt froze and looked around. "What was that?" He said anxiously.

It came again, a definite tap on the tiled floor, but this time it was louder. Kurt was starting to panic a little, and even Blaine took a safe step closer to him.

The tap came, again louder.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm suddenly in a horror film?" Kurt nervously whispered to Blaine.

Blaine whispered back, "Because maybe we are?"

"What?" Kurt looked at him like he had lost it.

Blaine put his hands out if front of him. "I was kidding, calm down. Besides I think it stopped anyway." He looked at the entrance from where the clatter had been coming from. He walked closer to it, leaving Kurt in the middle of the room. He got up close to the wall, pressed his back flat against it, and looked around the corner.

He turned his head back. "It's okay. The coast is clear." Kurt let out a breath hid didn't know he was holding in.

Kurt smiled over at Blaine, who in turn, smiled back at him. And that was when Kurt saw it. It came out of the blackness, like some sort of demon. Two fingers that barely touched the corner of Blaine's neck before he fell to the ground.

"Blain-!" Kurt tried to shout out, but he felt a pair of finger come out from behind and pinch his skin. And then he felt himself slipping, his eyes reeling back with their sight being Blaine lying on the floor. He fell unconscious to the floor, his last thought being that he had to save Blaine.

*w* *w* *w*

His head hurt. That was the first thing that came to mind. The second thing was where was Blaine? He had remembered them being in the foyer with the glass case full of trophies. And they were talking about…Anna and Christina and…and then they were attacked. By, like, trained assassins or something because there was no way that those could have been school girls. Right?

Kurt opened his eyes, groaning when he was blinded by a giant lamp that was shining right on his face. He tried to move his hands to block the light, but couldn't get them to move. He looked down to see ropes tied around his chest and biceps. He also realized that he was sitting in a chair and that his hairpiece was gone. Well, this was not the best way to wake up.

A groan came from his left and Kurt turned his head to see Blaine, wig missing, waking up. He had ropes tied around him as well along with a small bump on his head from when he had fallen.

"Kurt." Blaine groaned out, his eyes fluttering to life. He looked around and then began to struggle when he realized that he was tied up.

"Blaine, calm down." Kurt said in a soothing voice. He didn't need to spook Blaine anymore than he was.

His voice seemed to do the job. Blaine stopped struggling and slumped into his seat. Kurt sighed. He had just solved his first dilemma. Now onto the second one.

"Hello? Anyone there?" He yelled out into the shadows.

He heard some shuffling and then the sound of someone coughing. "Oh, good. The prisoners are awake."

Kurt was taken back. "Prisoners?"

The sound of steps walking towards him was enough to make him feel a little queasy. A girl stepped forward, short but standing with her head held high and eyes like lightning.

"Yes, prisoners." She said firmly, placing her hands on her hips. Two more girls came up behind her, their arms crossed making them look like bodyguards in plaid skirts.

The leader, who reminded Kurt of a younger Santana Lopez, stepped forward and started walking around them like a vulture waiting to dive for dead flesh. It was creepy to say the least.

"Do you know what we have here, ladies?" She said, her voice laced with venom. The other girls didn't answer but acknowledged her words.

She continued. "A couple of boys who thought it would be fun to play dress up and come visit us." She spit the last word out like it was something rotten. Kurt was getting a bit tired of this act.

"But they were wrong in thinking that they cou-"

"Okay," Kurt cut her off, "you can stop with the evil villain ranting. At first, I'll admit, I was a bit frightened, but then you kept on going and eventually it got boring for me."

The girl stopped in front of him and turned slowly to face him. "You have spunk." She said in a low voice. "I'd like that if it wasn't the fact that you're a Dalton boy."

Kurt rolled his eyes. Now she was just being rude.

She continued walking in a circle around them. "Now, first thing first. What are your names?"

"Kurt Hummel." He said it with no feeling, with no hesitation.

Blaine remained silent, his eyes downcast.

The girl took a piece of her black, straight hair and played it through her fingers. She motioned to Blaine and said, "What's with your boyfriend? Cat got his tongue?"

Kurt blushed, but calmly said, "He's not my boyfriend and I don't know why he isn't talking. But his name is Blaine, Blaine Anderson."

A grin that could rival the Cheshire cat spread across her face. "Blaine Anderson," she practically hummed the words, "the lead soloist of the warblers. I've heard many things about you."

She released her hair and clapped her hands together. "Well, where have my manners been? I haven't even introduced myself." She let out a quick laugh. "Ah, my name is Victoria Garcia and I am both the president and lead soloist for the Songbirds.

"These," she motioned to the two girls, "are my co-captains, Caitlin Long and Taylor Gredvig." Caitlin was a tall, athletic looking girl while Taylor was shorter with vibrant pink hair. They both smiled and waved at them cheerfully.

"Now on to the main question: why are you here?" Victoria asked in a deadly voice.

Kurt shrugged. "In all honesty, if it was up to me, we wouldn't even be here but this guy," he motioned towards Blaine, who still hadn't said anything, "just wanted to invite you to a performance."

Victoria raised a manicured brow. "Oh, really?" She directed at Blaine.

The boy seemed to acknowledge her, but remained mute. The Songbird did not take too kindly to that and stalked towards him.

"Anderson, you've been quiet this whole time." She leaned closer to him. "Why don't you open that mouth of yours and let me hear that famous voice." If Kurt didn't already know that she hated them, he would have suspected that she was trying to flirt.

Blaine, for the first time since they had woken up, looked up and talked. "I don't tend to speak to people who have knocked me and my best friend unconscious!"

Victoria clicked her tongue at him and pulled back. "No need to get testy. And it wasn't me personally who did it, but if you're suggesting my girls did, than yes, they did."

Kurt tuned himself into the conversation. "Wait, it was you?" He turned to Blaine. "When you said they would go all Fight Club on us…?"

"Yes, Kurt." He said. "When I said that, I literally meant they would go all Fight Club on us."

Kurt flushed. "I am so going to haunt Thad when I die." He said nervously.

The girl waved him off. "Why are you so scared? It's not like we actually hurt you, we just simply knocked you unconscious, dragged you back into our private quarters, and tied you up."

Kurt and Blaine both gapped at her.

"What?" She innocently asked.

"Oh yes," Kurt said, "I understand now. They don't only teach the girls the importance of song; they also train them to be assassins!"

Victoria was unfazed. "Back to the whole invite thing. Why should I even consider your offer? You have been nothing but rude to us since you've been here."

"You've got to be kidding me?" Blaine bit out. He seemed to be seething now that he had started talking back.

She tapped his temple like he was a disobedient dog. "Oh, oh, oh, looks like someone has a temper."

Blaine actually growled at her. Kurt would never admit to himself that he found it extremely attractive.

"Down boy." Victoria said firmly before walking back over to a table and grabbing a water bottle. "I'm afraid the Songbirds are going to have to decline the offer." She took a sip. "Can't have us associated with Dalton boys and disgracing the name of Anna Matthews."

Kurt's whole body perked up. "Anna Matthews?"

"Yes, you probably have no ide-"

"I _know_ who Anna Matthews is," he interrupted, "so don't even start with me on disrespecting her."

Victoria seemed pleasantly surprised. "Really? Tell me something about her?" She skeptically asked.

"Anna was the daughter of the dean of the school at the time of her death," he started, "she died in the spring of 1963 from an impaled heart and a slit throat. She loved to sing and so did her best friend, Christina Monroe, who started your little Songbirds once this school was built after they announced that Dalton was becoming an all-boy school. She had curly brown hair and was taller than all the other girls and got good grades and loved to hang out in a hall in the main corridor and despised the color pink!"

Kurt was flushed and breathing hard by the time he finished his mini-history lesson on Anna. Everyone in the room, including Blaine, was staring at him like he had just grown an extra head. It was not a good feeling.

"Excuse me." Victoria said in an uneasy voice. She walked towards her two companions and grabbed them each by the arm, pulling them into a corner in the room. They began talking in hushed voices.

"How did you know all of that?" Blaine leaned over and whispered to him.

Kurt grinned at him. "When you have to live with a ghost who won't shut up, you start to pick up a couple things."

Blaine had a big, cheeky smile and wide, bright eyes and Kurt felt his heart flutter for a few seconds before he heard the returning footsteps of Victoria and her lackeys.

"We have come to an agreement."

Both boys shared a brief look before Blaine motioned her to continue.

"We will allow a few of our girls to go to your performance." She paused. "But only the freshman. I can't have any of the useful girls going to this. You might brain wash them."

Kurt sighed in relief. "Thank you." He wiggled against the ropes still tied around him. "Could you, ah, untie us now? To be honest, these skirts are starting to chaff a little." He wished they had allowed tights in the school. He could have worn them under the skirt and then he wouldn't have to deal with the likely rash.

"Of course." Victoria snapped her fingers and Caitlin and Taylor came and untied them.

Kurt stood up gratefully and pressed his palms into the base of his spine. He heard a quiet crack and sighed from the feeling of relief that flooded his body.

"Next time you feel the need to visit, feel free to just come in standard uniform." Taylor said off-handedly.

Kurt laughed. "Well, this one," he threw his thumb over his shoulder to point at Blaine, "said that cross-dressing was the only way to get onto campus safely."

Caitlin giggled by her side. "That was a bit unnecessary."

"Why?" Blaine came up beside Kurt and asked.

"We're a lot smarter than you think. Even with the outfits, we were still able to tell that you were guys." Taylor pointed out. "It would've been easier to just come in as yourselves."

"So you're saying that all the makeup and the wigs were pointless?" Kurt said annoyingly.

"Basically." Victoria agreed. All three of them nodded their heads in unison.

Kurt turned to glare at Blaine. You could have started a fire with his eyes. Eventually, he just gave up on glaring. It had been a long day for him. He pressed the palms to his closed eyes and breathed deeply.

He dropped his hands. "Can you just go to my car and get me some pants?"

Blaine just simply nodded, took his keys, and went. Kurt was left with the three leading Songbirds.

Caitlin and Taylor were off in a corner discussing a school project, so he decided to talk to Victoria. Something had been bugging him for a couple of minutes.

"Hey, Victoria, can I ask you something?" He said in a leveled voice.

"Sure."

"Why did you agree after I said about all that stuff about Anna?"

Victoria took a step back to give herself some room to breathe. "I don't think I need to explain the importance of Anna Matthews. You clearly understand how she affected not only Dalton Academy, but also Westerville as a whole. But to Crawford, she's kind of a legacy. Because of her, because of Christina, they changed it for girls in the fifties here. They started a revolution of some sorts." She laughed at her own words, and Kurt laughed along with her. "So, seeing a Dalton boy who genuinely cared about the story of her melted my heart a little, I guess."

Kurt gave her a sincere smile. Blaine walked in a second later, already changed back into his pressed gray slacks, and handed him his own pair. He said thanks and Blaine bid goodbye to the girls and walked back out to the car.

"Hey, Kurt?" Victoria asked.

"Yeah?"

She tilted her head to the side. "How is it that you knew all the stuff anyway?"

Kurt gulped quietly. "Just, a whole lot of research."

He quickly said goodbye and walked to the nearest bathroom to change before he said anything that would be a dead giveaway that he was friends with a spirit. Though, he wasn't sure how they could figure that out. But the girls were very smart so it wouldn't be too much trouble.

Once he got back in his pants, he walked back to the car and climbed into the passenger seat. He and Blaine both turned to look at each other at the same time.

"I'm going to be paying back for this, aren't I?" Blaine nervously asked.

Kurt just nodded his head somberly.

Blaine sighed, turned back to look at the road, and drove them back to campus.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Darren's doing his last show today, so if you can, please show your appreciation on twitter or tumblr.<strong>_

_**And, again, all I ask for is reviews from you guys. I really do love it when you guys review a chapter, it makes my heart go wheee!**_


	10. Chapter 9

**_Sorry this is a little late (at least, by my standards), I've just been swarmed by midterms and learning my lines for drama and urgh. Pre-Calculus is a bitch. I'm taking the weekend to start my book, write the next chapter to this story, start two books that I need to read, and start typing up a story that I've gradually been writing since the beginning of the year. But, in reality, typing the next chapter for LNTD is much more important than any of those other things._**

**_Took the Compass Test today. I beat about 80% of my class in scores. And I've been trying to watch the Sherlock episode 'The Great Game', but my laptop sucks with loading videos, so if anyone has a link for a download, please send my a message with it._**

**_Now let's go on with the story!_**

* * *

><p>Somehow (Kurt honestly had no idea how he had done it) they found themselves, along with the rest of the warblers, in a rusty warehouse on the outskirts of Westerville a few days later. A text from one of the freshman Songbird's had just arrived on Kurt's phone alerting them that the group would be there in five minutes. Most of the boys were crowed on one side of the warehouse, buzzing with anticipation for the girls.<p>

Kurt wearily stepped across the ground towards the metal platform that was built into the floor. The whole place reeked of dust and gasoline and something like soap and Kurt scrunched up his face whenever he got a strong whiff of the strange concoction. The windows were barely in place, some having been shattered over the years. Almost everything was an unnatural shade of brown and Kurt could have sworn he had seen a spider the size of a rat when they had first gotten there.

Blaine jogged over to him from the group, where it appeared that Jeff was trying to purposefully mess up Nick's hair, the other boy scowling at him.

"Hey, Kurt! Great set up, don't you think?"

Kurt carefully stepped over a large patch of dirt, brow raised. "Why a warehouse, Blaine? That's my only question, because I can't come up with any good reason to actually use an abandoned warehouse."

Blaine just laughed at him. "Are you kidding me? Just look around you!"

He looked at the rusting walls and cobwebs before turning back to Blaine. "Yes, Blaine. It just screams sexual appeal."

Blaine shook his head, his lips thinning before they formed a smile. His hands smoothed down the front of his blazer before they moved to gesture at the top of the metal platform where a metal contraption stood. It was a metal cylinder in the shape of an arc with what looked like a plastic hose inside it, and stood on a rod so it could pivot.

"You see that?"

Kurt nodded.

"That," Blaine continued, "is a foam cannon."

Kurt's mouth dropped. "A what?"

"A foam cannon!" Blaine waved his arms at the machine like it was a statue of some deity. "Kurt, when you find a warehouse that has a working foam cannon in it, you do not pass it up!"

The counter-tenor focused his gaze on the other boy. "You're kidding me, right?"

Blaine just smiled at him brightly. "Nope. Foam cannon trumps everything, everyone knows that."

"Except me, apparently." Kurt crossed his arms over his chest, but grinned just the same.

Blaine chuckles. "Except you." And then he just smiled at Kurt like he was the sun. His heart speed up before it was interrupted by the buzz of his phone. He took it out of his blazer's pocket and checked the screen.

_Songbirds have arrived. Please prepare for our entrance._

Kurt scoffed at the text. Such drama queens. He looked back up at Blaine who was still smiling at him.

"The Songbirds are here."

Blaine's smile fell, but was quickly replaced with a more subtle one. He turned and started walking back towards the group of boys who were still messing around.

"Okay, boys! Places! The Songbirds have arrived!

*w* *w* *w*

_We'll figure something out._

_We'll figure…_

_We'll…_

_**We'll.**_

_What the fuck did that mean?_ Kurt thought.

When Blaine had come up to him after denying another pair of girls and started talking about his faces during the performance, he had been a little embarrassed. Okay, _really_ embarrassed, to the point that he wished for death on the spot, but to make matters worse Blaine had said that they would _figure something out_. And then to make it even more uncomfortable, he had smiled and walked away.

_That bastard._ Kurt curled his lips in and frowned, glaring at the floor as well. Blaine was out to secretly destroy him, that was the only possible solution.

Jeff and Nick, pursued by the beatboxer Leon, ran towards him, interrupting his thoughts.

"Kurt! Look at all the numbers I got!" Jeff spread the pieces of scribbled-on paper in his fingers like a deck of cards. He was literally shaking with excitement.

Kurt cocked his head to the side. "Did you drink another Monster?"

Leon caught up to them just in time to hear Kurt's little snippet.

"He just chugged one after going through the Songbird freshmen. He's on a roll at the moment."

Nick hummed next to him and stretched out his hand, revealing his own collection of numbers. "I got numbers from six different girls in less than a minute." He placed his other hand on his hip and gave a smug grin.

Kurt locked his fingers over his knee. "Am I supposed to be proud of you or…?"

Jeff and Nick both simultaneously rolled their eyes and flicked their bangs back like preteen girls. It was both impressive and frightening at the same time.

"Kurt, you are no fun." Jeff said. Nick nodded in agreement; Leon only rolled his own eyes and went to go talk to Logan and Trent. "And, yes, you're supposed to be proud of me. Have proud Kurt tears for me, that's all I want. And maybe another Monster but that's beside the point."

"Yeah, Kurt." Nick piped in. "If we were to perform in front of a group of hot guys and you got their numbers, we would definitely have proud Nick and Jeff tears for you. Not as much as if you got Blaine's…"

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Wait, what was that last part?"

Nick gave him a cheeky grin. "Aw, come on. Everyone can see it. Except, you know, Blaine. But he's always been a bit oblivious."

Kurt nodded at the last part, because, well, it was true. Jeff nodded his head quickly before turning to start looking in the pockets of Nick's blazer. Nick promptly lifted his arms but continued to look at Kurt.

He scrunched his face up in confusion. "What is he doing?"

Nick looked down at Jeff for a second before returning to Kurt. "He's looking for a snack. He can't keep them in his own pockets because he tends to just stuff them back in without thinking and it's actually really hard to get melted chocolate out of blazer pockets. So, I keep some sweets in plastic bags in my pockets so he won't get whiny during trips."

Jeff pulled back at that moment with a small plastic bag that was half filled with gummy bears. He pulled the bag close to his face, opened it, and popped a gummy bear into his mouth. He moaned in joy. Kurt laughed at him. Even if he was a bit annoying at times, the other times he was more like a little kid with A.D.H.D. and Kurt couldn't help be amused. He was just really adorable.

"Kurtie, I'm going to give you a bit of advice right now and I hope you take it to heart." Jeff said through a mouth full of gummy bears. Kurt raised a brow, but remained silent and let Jeff continue.

"If you want it, go for it. No one's stopping you from going after Blaine. In fact, most of us are rooting for you guys." Jeff paused to swallow another bear. He also took it to hand his small papers to Nick to put into his wallet. "At this rate, Blaine will be on his death bed when he realizes he has feelings for you, so it's up to you to make it happen."

Kurt sighed. This was not happening. He ran his hands through his already wet hair. "What makes you think that Blaine even has feelings for me?"

Jeff and Nick both gave open-mouth smiles and shared a look. They looked away at the same time and let out breathy laughs, like there was some secret joke they were sharing.

"What?" Kurt asked tiredly. He felt like he had been asking questions all day.

Before either one could reply, Wes shouted from across the room. "Guys, come on, we're leaving." Nick turned to Jeff and opened his mouth in an obnoxious way. The blonde plucked a gummy bear from the bag and gently placed it in Nick's mouth before taking one for himself. Jeff gave back the now almost empty bag which Nick took and stuffed back into his pocket. They then hooked arms and looked at Kurt, waiting for him.

"Are you two sure you aren't gay?"

Nick scoffed at him. "Kurt, please. We practically have to fight off the ladies with bats."

Kurt sighed again but grabbed his towel and walked with them over to the main doors to leave.

*w* *w* *w*

_Wow. Those faces that he made during the performance were ridiculous. I don't know how Blaine can stand it. The high-pitched voice, the bitchy attitude; I'm already this close to punching him in the face. But that's mostly because he's ruining my life. Unintentionally, of course, but still. You have to take into account that fact that he is trying to solve a murder related to my own family._

_He seems like he knows of…of Anna. The flinching has become usual. Everyone can't think about it without doing it. Mom has even developed a nervous twitch whenever I talk about school._

_But Kurt knows her, maybe even more than I expected. I haven't seen or heard of him going to back to the North Corridor in a while, but that doesn't mean anything. She can go anywhere on campus. She might even be able to…Oh dear lord! She's staying in his dorm. It explains everything. Kurt's sudden solitary confinement to his room, Blaine spending more time with him as well…_

_This is bad. If she's staying in his room, she's probably talking to him as well and that would mean he would know of Christina and if he went to Crawford and saw the plaques…_

_He's far closer to solving this than I had expected._

*w* *w* *w*

Kurt blessed the person who ever thought of Fridays, especially Friday afternoons. There was something about them that made all of the stress of the week flee your body and be replaced with comforting numbness. The minute you were released from school or work, that feeling would set in and everything that you even thought you were going to accomplish during the weekend flew out the window.

Kurt liked that. It was some kind of universal rule that everyone listened to so they couldn't get mad if all you wanted to do was lay on their bed for a couple of hours and stare up at their ghost friend who was doing laps across the room. Which is what Kurt was doing at the moment. Because this week had been _weird_, even more so than what it had been more the past few weeks. In less than five days he had been mobbed by Sue Sylvester, cross dressed, been attacked by school girl ninjas, and performed in a warehouse that had a foam cannon in it. A foam cannon. Do they even still make foam cannons anymore?

The door opened without any warning knock. Kurt sat up so quick that he almost got whiplash. Blaine casually strolled into his room, sans blazer, and pulled out Kurt's desk chair and put it at the front of his bed and sat down. He had the same smile on his face from the day before.

"Can I help you, Blaine?" Kurt skeptically asked.

The other boy widened his eyes, raised his brows, and nodded.

"You mind telling me how?"

Blaine pulled his legs up and sat crisscrossed in the chair. "I am going to give you lessons."

"Lessons in manners?" Anna asked from above.

Blaine's smile fell a little before he looked up at Anna, her curls swirling around her pale face. "Anna, can you do me a favor and leave? This kind of a private thing between me and Kurt." He motioned to both of them with a finger.

Anna pursed her lips before her face broke out in a silly grin. She giggled and waved them off. "Oh, okay. I'll leave so you can speak in _private_." She giggled again and dived backwards into the floor boards.

Kurt stared at the spot where Anna had gone through the floor. "_Weird_."

Blaine gave him a shocked look. "You're still not use to that?"

He shook his head, eyes still glued to the flooring. "No, just stating a summary of the whole week." He was finally able to move his eyes back to look at Blaine. "Now, why are you here again?"

Blaine gave him a flashy smile. "I'm going to give you sex lessons."

Kurt stared at him for five seconds then dove off the bed to make a run for the door. But Blaine was quick to jump off his seat. Kurt was only a few feet away from the door when Blaine grabbed a hold of his biceps, his grip tight.

"No, no, no, Kurt. You're going to sit down and I am going to teach you the art of seduction." The way he said the last word made a shiver run Kurt's spine but at the same time vomit.

He guided Kurt back down to his bed and seated him in front of the full length mirror that hung on the opposite wall. Kurt was as stiff as a board when Blaine sat down next to him and pressed most of his side to Kurt's, shoulders to thighs.

"Now, to start with the main problem: your 'sexy' faces." The way that Blaine made quotation mark with his hands when he said the word 'sexy' made Kurt flush.

"Give me your best 'come-hither' look." Blaine said in a stern tone, his eyes looking at Kurt's form in the mirror.

Kurt blinked. "I have no idea what that means."

Blaine rolled his eyes up like he was looking inside his head for any ideas. "Think about someone you think is really sexy." Blaine paused more a second. "Who's your favorite celebrity?"

"It's a three-way tie between Gaga, LuPone, and Chenowith."

Blaine let out a breathy laugh to the side before returning to the mirror. "Male celebrity?"

He looked to the side, avoiding Blaine's gaze. "I don't really have a favorite male celebrity."

"Well, do you think anyone you personally know is sexy?"

Kurt blushed but nodded. Blaine bumped his shoulder with his own. "Do you want to tell me who?"

Kurt pursed his lips in thought and then shook his head, his bangs falling into his face. He brushed a finger through them to get them back into place.

Blaine bobbed his head in understanding. "That's okay. You don't have to tell me. But picture that person and give me a look that would make them want to tear your clothes off."

He had no idea what he was doing. This was beyond embarrassing, this was 'someone kill me' embarrassing. It was even more so because when Blaine had asked him to picture the sexiest person he knew, he mind had gone instantly to the boy sitting next to him. Kurt couldn't run away if he wanted. He had tried that already and Blaine had only captured him. Kurt was going to have to make this work for him as well as he could.

*w* *w* *w*

Blaine gave him one last fleeting look before he closed the door. The lesson hadn't gone so well. Kurt had become unbearably uncomfortable and had asked Blaine to leave at the first mention of sex.

Kurt pressed his palms to the lids of his eyes and sighed. Everything would be so much more awkward now. And most of that could be a counted to his face. He just couldn't come up with a sexy face. Every time he thought of being sexy, Blaine voice would enter his mind and Kurt would be torn between want and anxiety, the result being an awkward facade.

He flapped his arms, just to get a bit of the new stress out. He buried his face into his pillow when he landed on his bed and let out a loud shriek into it. Maybe he could suffocate himself with the pillow…

"What happened now?"

Kurt groaned into the soft fabric and turned his head to the side. "I don't want to talk about it Anna."

The ghoul floated back to the bed and flipped onto her side so it looked like she was lying on the comforter. She hummed low in her throat and ran a hand through her perfectly styled hair. "Tell me. Does it have anything to do with your _private_ lesson with Blaine?" She giggled at her own words and then focused her attention on Kurt once again.

He nearly gagged. "Uh, please do not mention it."

The smile Anna had on her face disappeared and was replaced with a look of concern. "What happened?" She asked, voice laced with worry.

Kurt buried his head in the pillow, even if it would ruin his hair. "Blaine, well…he tried to teach me about _sex_." He said the word like he could be arrested for it even passing his lips.

Anna scrunched up her face, brows drawn and lips in a grimace. "That sounds…horrifying."

"It was!"

She attempted the pat his back in sympathy, but it was futile considering she couldn't actually touch him. "Oh Kurt. I'm sure his heart was in the right place when he was thinking about it."

Kurt's whine was muffled by the cloth. He needed to talk to someone that wasn't the boy he was in love with or a ghost girl he had found in the halls of Dalton. And he knew just the person.

*w* *w* *w*

"Kurt, I am so glad you called me to talk. Since our blossoming friendship at the beginning of the year, I feel that we've missed so much precious time together. And even with the competition season getting more intense, that should not put any pressure on our relationship. Oh, and thank you for taking my out for coffee. Though I'm surprised you didn't bring Blaine along with you considering you're dating-"

He nearly choked on his non-fat mocha. This was starting to become a regular thing; him gagging on his coffee. "What? No, Rachel! Blaine and I are _not_ dating."

Rachel cocked her head to the side before taking a drink of her horribly sugar filled frappacino. "Really? I was so sure you guys were, what with how Blaine practically draped himself over you at my party."

"The aftermath of which I am still dealing with." Kurt mumbled under his breath. He cleared his throat and spoke up. "No, that's just how he gets when he's drunk. And a little when he's sober, but it's more subdued."

She giggled into her sweet treat and straightened the silk bow around her waist. Ever since Kurt and Rachel had become friends, he could tell that a bit of his fashion sense was actually starting to seep into Rachel's pink-frilled brain.

He let out an exhausted sigh. "I just needed to talk to someone who doesn't wear a navy and red blazer, what with the week that I had."

Rachel reached across the table and gave his hand a few gentle pats. Kurt pushed his coffee away; his need for caffeine lost, and rested his face in his hand.

"Go on, tell me all about it." Rachel said with a sincere grin.

Kurt made a noise that sounded like a cross between a scoff and a snort. "Even if I told you, you would never believe me."

The energetic brunette shook her head a bit, lips curling into full fledge smile. "Oh, Kurt, stop being so dramatic. I've been attending William McKinley High School for almost three full years. I don't think anything you say could possibly surprise me."

He actually thought it. The idea that he could tell Rachel about Anna smacked the front of his brain like a brick. It hadn't seem like an actual option before, but that was before when everything seemed more like a game and less like an murder; when solving meant that Anna was going to get closure, not changing everything about them. He hesitated. But…but he needed help. He needed someone who wasn't Anna or Blaine, who could keep a secret and help him out of any holes him and Blaine dug themselves into.

His face became stoic and he drew his hand away from the warmth of Rachel's palm. Her face fell when he retreated from her.

"Kurt?"

He paused for moment, letting out a shaky breath. He hadn't been this nervous since he had first heard Anna's voice. "I…I want to tell you, but…" His voice was low, gravely, not at all like how he usually spoke. "But not now. Not here, at least."

Rachel's brown eyes widened in surprise, her lips drawing into a pink-coated thin line. "Oh…okay. Where would you like to go then?"

One place came to mind immediately. "I know a place but we're going to need to leave now if you don't want to be locked in after curfew."

Concern flashed in Rachel's eyes. "Wait, what-?" Before she could finish, Kurt had already stood and reached across the table to curl his hand around her wrist. Drinks abandoned, Kurt pulled his best friend towards the exit. Spectators watched in interest as he literally dragged the girl out of the café. Definitely the most bizarre thing to happen this week. This was so going on the facebook page.

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><p><em><strong>I only ask for your sweet, sweet reviews. And candy. And Darren Criss. But I will settle with just reviews. :)<strong>_


	11. Chapter 10

_**I AM SO FUCKING SORRY. **_

_**I know that when I see someone has updated after a long period of time I look at the notification like 'oh look who fucking decided to update. you're lucky I still love you. let's see what you have to say about this'.**_

_**All I can say is Writer's block is a bitch. I'd stab that bitch if I could. Stab it good. With Dayna's nail file...If you don't follow my blog, then you don't know who Dayna is. She is the Rachel Berry to my Kurt Hummel so if you didn't know, now you do. And I tend to talk about her a lot so get use to it.**_

_**This chapter is shorter than usual. I just couldn't get it out. Blegh.**_

* * *

><p>The drive to Dalton Academy was smothered with uncomfortable silence. Kurt kept both of his hands on the wheel and his eyes on the road while Rachel fidgeted in the passenger seat. Neither one of them even thought to turn on the radio in fear that any sudden movement would cause the other to go into cardiac arrest. The sky was cloudy, no signs of rain but enough to block out the sun. It was almost as if the universe was foreshadowing for him. Kurt could really do without it now.<p>

It was about five when Kurt finally pulled up to the iron gates that greeted anyone who visited Dalton Academy. Rachel looked in awe at the marble statues and red-bricked buildings. Everything looked like it had come out of some sort of British boarding school and it was thrilling.

He parked the car in the lot in front of the stone path that lead to most of the inner yards of the campus. "Come on." He gestured her to open her door and get out while he grabbed his coat from the back. She did as so with a single question and soon she was following him up the cobblestone lane. There were a few boys out, strolling to their dorms or sitting in various areas. They all looked at Rachel with amazement and then with joy. Kurt chuckled to himself. There was no point in them even trying to hit on Rachel. Either her controlling nature would drive them away or the fact that she was only now recovering from a break-up.

He took long strides to avoid the cracks in the path. He persisted on, even as boys broke off and attempted to talk to him about Rachel. Kurt brushed them and fought his way towards his main goal: the North Corridor.

His phone dinged with an incoming text message. Kurt didn't need to look at it to know who it was. It dinged again. Blaine was getting annoyed, Kurt could tell. He couldn't talk to him now though. The awkwardness from their last talk still lingered and besides, he had more important things to deal with.

"Kurt, where are you taking me?"

He didn't turn around to look at her, remaining silent.

"Kurt! Wher-"

In one swift motion, he pivoted on his heel and tuned to face her. Rachel squeaked and slammed into his chest.

"Rachel, I know you have no idea what is going on right at this moment, I really do. But can you do me a favor and _shut up_?" He seethed for a second and turned back. He didn't need to look back to make sure Rachel was following him; he could hear the quick patter of her bedazzled flats hitting the pavement.

He saw the big, red building once he had passed a line of fence that was laced with blushing ivy. The multiple windows looked like eyes against the burgundy red. He walked up the small flight of stairs and opened one of the wooden doors, holding it just for a second so Rachel could grab it behind him.

Kurt knew where he was going. He had learned the path to the hall after his first encounter with Anna. It wasn't that hard really. Straight forward, right at the first turn, left at the second, and then the last door on the right. He would probably remember it five years from now, ten if he tried.

It was quiet, like always. All the halls that were occupied were closed most of the time, and anyone who just wanted a place to play around would have an easier time finding it outside.

They got to the door. Kurt opened it this time without any hesitation and walked inside. The girl followed behind, tip-toeing on the tiles and carefully closing the door as to not touch any of the grime.

"Kurt?"

His eyes searched the dirty room before coming to the conclusion that she wasn't here.

"Anna." He said firmly.

Rachel stared at his back with a look of surprise. "What?"

Kurt ignored her. He waited a few seconds, to see if anything would happen, and called out again. "Anna!"

Rachel's voice was shaky. "Kurt? You-you're scaring me."

He needed to do this. He needed to show here why his life could never be normal and why he more stressed out than he had ever been in his life.

"Anna!" He called out once more.

There was a moment where everything stood still, where the air seemed to freeze around them.

"Yes, Kurt?"

He breathed out a sigh of relief while Rachel let out a loud gasp. Anna pulled herself out of the bookshelf across the room, pale and put-together as usual. Kurt smiled at her and took a few steps forward until he was in the center of the room. The ghoul floated across the meet him, mimicking his stance.

"I called for you for almost five minutes."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I was in your room; it wasn't like I can show up in an instant. I actually do have to travel from across the school yard to here."

He laughed again until he heard the scratching of wood.

Kurt turned around to see Rachel clawing for the doorknob, refusing to turn her back which was pressed as close as she could get it.

"Oh crap." Kurt sighed. He had almost completely forgotten that Rachel was there.

He turned to face her. "Rachel, calm do-"

"What the hell is that?" She screeched, pointing a shaky finger in Anna's general direction.

The ghost's eyes peeked in interest, similar to that of a cat. Kurt, you brought someone to meet me?" She placed her hand over the gaping hole in her chest and sighed. "I wish you would have told me. I would have cleaned the place up a bit."

The more Anna spoke, the more Rachel started to hyperventilate. The shock of a phantom being around was numb for Kurt at this point. Having Anna around had just become the normal.

He crept towards Rachel, taking tentative steps with her hands held out. A flash of the first time Blaine had ever seen Anna crossed his mind. While Blaine had been as freaked out, he had at least been quiet unlike Rachel who took it as an invitation for a screaming match.

"Rachel, would you please calm-"

"No!" Rachel screeched. Her voice echoed throughout the room and Kurt's ears rung a little. "I will not calm down. How can you tell me that, with-with that thing in here?" She pointed accusingly at Anna.

The ghoul was starting to back away from Rachel, moving from the center of the room to the coffee table, but she just ended up standing right in the middle of the stained wood.

"Kurt," she said in a quiet voice, "your friend is starting to scare me. Is this how she always is?"

He didn't know what to say to Anna. This was not what he thought was going to happen at all. He knew that Rachel sometimes tended to have so small tantrums, but he had never seen her go completely insane before. It was terrifying, especially with the girl clawing at anything that was in her reach. He took another tentative step towards her and placed his hand gently on her shoulder.

"Rachel, I'm showing you Anna for a reason. She was murdered on the Dalton campus and now her spirit can't leave. Blaine and I have taken over the task of solving the case."

A second passed by before Rachel's face went from horrified to enamor. "Oh, you guys are just like Sam and Dean! You know, dealing with the su-per-na-tu-ral." She flipped her hands around herself like she was dancing with silk threads.

The corner of Kurt's eyes crinkled when he pouted his lips. "What, the hell, are you talking about?"

"No, no, no, wait." She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, pressing her fingers to her temple. At that moment, Kurt mused, Rachel looked like one of those wooden toys with the button on the bottom of the base. One push and the whole thing would collapse, joints going limp with the lack of pressure. But then a second later it would be back, standing tall and bright and the inner ropes holding everything tightly together.

She pulled herself together again, and when she opened her eyes, they were bright. She nodded to Kurt and bit her bottom lip.

He smiled down at her and curled an arm around her shoulders, still tense. Her feet moved inch by inch across the tiled floor before she had made it to where Anna was, still standing in the middle of the table. Once there, Rachel spoke again.

"Now that I have taken the time to reassess the situation, I realize that screaming like a banshee was probably not the best thing to do. Neither was comparing Kurt and Blaine to fictional characters from a television show. But now I have seen the error of my ways."

She stepped closer to Anna and stuck out her hand. "Rachel Berry, it's a pleasure to meet you. Anna, was it?"

The phantom looked at her with questioning eyes, waiting to see if Rachel would burst out in another fit. When she deemed it safe enough, she extended her own hand out to wrap around the space in Rachel's hand. "Anna Matthews. It's nice to meet you, as well."

Kurt let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in. Two extremely different parts of his life were combining. Blaine knew too much, but Rachel knew just enough that she would understand but wouldn't be completely involved in the whole crime solving thing. It was also a bonus that Rachel liked Anna enough that Kurt could complain to her about the ghost at any time. Everything was good, even if it only lasted for a small amount of time.

*w* *w* *w*

"You told her?" Blaine seethed.

It was Monday and Kurt had not talked to Blaine for the whole weekend. He had ignored every text and call from Blaine, even faking his absence when Blaine came knocking at his door. It wasn't that Kurt hadn't wanted to talk to Blaine. He did, he really did, but the fact of the matter was that he still felt extremely awkward about their talk on Friday. He couldn't get over the pit in his stomach when he remembered how Blaine had sat him down and how he had asked him to make 'sexy faces'.

The first class that Kurt and Blaine had together was chemistry. Mr. Jacobson, the teacher who taught the class, was a kind enough mad and could help you understand molecular equations. They were doing a lab that day involving exploding elements and fire. Kurt had gotten through the actual lab quickly before heading over to his worktable. Jeff was also in this class and he made sure that he was out of there before Jeff could really get started.

The only bad thing about this idea was that his seat was right next to Blaine's. They talked as much as they could about the written part of the lab before trailing off into a awkward silence. Kurt twirled his pencil around his fingers and focused on the clock, hoping it would go faster and he could escape from Blaine at least for lunch.

Blaine swiveled in chair to face Kurt. "Kurt, would you please talk to me? You've been ignoring me the whole weekend and I just want to know if I did anything to offend you or..." He trailed off, not knowing what else to say. He looked down and stared at his scribbled answers.

He felt bad. This was really unfair to Blaine. "I-" His throat froze up when Blaine looked up at him. He didn't realize how close the other boy was. He scooted back a good length before opening his mouth to say something.

"I...I'm sorry, Blaine. You have every right to hate me if you want to, because I was a jerk to you. I ignored you and threw you out of my room just because you wanted to talk to me about...stuff, but that shouldn't ruin our friendship just because I was being a jerk." His lungs were burning by the end of his little speech and Blaine just looked at him with a small grin that said that he thought that Kurt was the cutest thing in the world.

"Kurt," Blaine said, "I don't hate you. Far from it, actually. I was just worried about you and took upon myself to help you which, I realize now, was not the best idea. I forgive you but...can you forgive me for being a crappy friend?"

Kurt let out a single laugh, giving the same look to Blaine that he was just given a minute ago. "Of course. Even though I think that I was the crappy friend in this situation."

Blaine chuckled. "So, what did you do this weekend without your partner in crime by your side?"

His face fell a bit and turned serious. "Actually, I need to tell you something."

Blaine looked at him and nodded for him to continue.

"Well," he looked off to the side for a second before returning back to Blaine, "I went to go see Rachel on Friday after our...talk. And we were talking about stuff and I brought back here and...introduced her to Anna."

He was not fully expecting Blaine's reaction. The other boy looked like he was ready to pull out his hair. "After all the hard work we did to make sure that no one knows, you just go and tell her?"

"Oh, you will you calm down. I trust Rachel enough that she wouldn't spread something like this around." He flipped his lab packet to the first page and placed it in a stack with everyone else's. "And besides, she had a bigger freak-out than you did."

Blaine was about to say something else when the sound of the whush of flames came from the other side of the room. Kurt and Blaine turned to see what was happening and were not surprised in the slightest.

Jeff had been messing around for the good part of the hour. This was the only class that he didn't share with Nick, and since no one else was willing to watch over him, it was like letting a kid free in a candy store.

And now it appeared that he had gone and blown a large tray of powder. Smoke was lingering in the air above his head. The papers that had been laid next to the bunsen burner where mere ashes now and there was some soot on his face and in his blond hair as well. Mr. Jacobson rushed over to make sure he was okay and to scold him for blowing himself up. Again.

Once the teacher had returned back to his desk, Kurt and Blaine hurried over to check on their fellow warbler. Jeff was already running a paper towel under the facet by the time they got there.

"Hey, Jeff, are you okay?" Kurt asked as the blonde wiped his face clean.

"Yeah, Kurtie, I'm fine. This is, like, the 20th time I think?"

Kurt raised a brow, but decided not to question it. This was Jeff and asking questions didn't exactly bode well. He wiped the soot from his face and out of his hair. Blaine had gotten more towels, dampened them, and handed them to Kurt so they could help Jeff clean up the remains of his lab.

*w* *w* *w*

_I can't believe that Blaine actually likes to talk to him, and gets upset when he doesn't. Who actually likes listening to that whiny voice for prolonged periods of time?_

_And all the talk about him lately is driving me crazy. Apparently the girl that he was dragging along on Friday was the lead soloist from McKinley high over in Lima. I know Wes was freaking out about it but I don't see what the main concern was. When Kurt first came to Dalton, he was actually spying and Wes had been completely calm about it. Though, they had referred to Kurt as 'endearing'. _

_My plan is only in its early stage of organization, but I'm sure that it will prove effective in stopping Kurt and Blaine. _

_Oh, great. Jeff went along and blew himself up again. Really, they should just make sure that Nick is in every class with him just so he doesn't destroy the school. Jeff is nice enough and he's a excellent dancer but he's always in need of sugar. It gets really annoying especially when Nick isn't here to calm him down. I should know, I've had to deal with it for the last two years._

_And now the great detective, Kurt Holmes and his faithful companion Blaine Watson are going to rescue their dear friend._

_I'm not quite sure why I hate him, I just do._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Two things:<strong>_

**_1) I use this website called written kitten. does anyone else know about it? Anyway, I don't know about you guys, but when I see a picture of a kitten pop up once I pass 100 words, I flail. Just a bit._**

**_2) APPARENTLY, there's a novel writing club at my school and I only learned of this last week. Which is strange. Considering I'm one of the few people that I know that openly talks about how they love to write. I mean, good to know there are writing friends I can talk to, but its February. HOW AM I ONLY LEARNING THIS NOW WHEN SCHOOL STARTED IN AUGUST. HOW._**

**_Reviews is all I asks for. And to meet Darren. I mean, c'mon, seriously. I just want to meet Darren and talk to him about Harry Potter, and hedgehogs. And serenaded him with disney songs. Preferably one from Tangled._**


	12. Chapter 11

**_Ladies and gentlemen, it is the beginning of The Final Countdown. Yeah, that's right, all caps. That's serious chiz. We're finally starting in on the last few chapters for this story._**

**_Never mind that it almost took me a whole two weeks to actually write this. I'm finally able to say that I can relax and start back up on the speed I was writing this story last month. _**

**_Now for a bit of my personal life:_**

**_My knowledge bowl team is going to State in Spokane! We won at Regionals on Wednesday and we get to go stay a night in Spokane (cause I live in washington) for a night and do stuff *w*. I don't even care that I have to spend multiple hours with asshole Mcjerkypants aka Ben aka the guy who reminds me of season 1 Puck cause I can annoy him to the point that he would throw himself out the car. Yay._**

**_NOW ON WITH THE INSANITY!_**

* * *

><p>A Warblers' meeting was called on Wednesday after lunch so that they could plan for what ever song they did for a practice performance for the school. Kurt thought it was a bit ridiculous that they actually did performances for the students, but most of his live performances had either resulted in riots or no acknowledgement at all. They filtered into the room, most of them with full bellies due to Dalton Academy's fine lunch menu, and sat around the room. The only people who had designated seats were Wes, David, and Thad.<p>

Kurt sat on the fine leather sofa closest to the door with Nick. Jeff sat on the arm rest by his side, blowing air up to flip his bangs out of his face. He shook his head at them and looked to his other side when he felt the cushion he was sitting on go down on the other side. Blaine sat next to him, leaning as far as he could into the back of the couch. He crossed his legs, ankle resting on the opposite knee, and his right arm was resting along the back of the sofa.

He felt exceptionally comfortable in his presence, leaning back into the couch as well, ankles locking together and his hands threaded together in his lap.

Wes banged his gavel on the small block of wood kept on the desk. "Order!" He shouted over the roar of teenage boys. Kurt mentally laughed at how Wes thought he could really control them all.

Everyone was still able to settle down after a few minutes of yelling and wood-banging.

"Now," Wes sat down and shuffled a few pages of sheet music, "as you all know, Regionals is a week from Friday. We already have the 'Raise Your Glass' number down pretty well, but we still need to work on the 11 o'clock number. I'm not quite feeling it. But, like always, I was hoping we could also do a practice performance to encourage the rest of the student to come and cheer for us."

Most of the warblers were still in a food comatose, but they were able to nod their heads in agreement with the idea.

David looked up from his pad of paper. "I was thinking we could do the new Maroon 5 hit, 'Misery'."

Jeff clapped his hands before stopping when everybody looked at him strangely.

Thad grinned over at David from across the table. "I agree with David. Blaine's range fits perfectly with that song."

The corners of Kurt's lips drew down in a slight frown. It was always Blaine that seemed to get all the solos. Even Jeff, who had told Kurt the first time they really talked that he had auditioned six times, had never sung a solo. It made Kurt think of how many songs he had actually seen the warblers sing and how many of them were lead by Blaine. From 'Teenage Dream' to 'Animal' Blaine had either sung lead or at least had some major role in the song.

But it didn't seem to faze many of the others that much. They seemed to encourage Blaine to sing solo as much as the council did and none of them complained about it. His eyes shifted easily over each and every face of the warblers in the room, all of them smiling and bright at the news of Blaine singing another song.

And when he turned to Blaine to see his reaction, thinking that he would see the same luminescent smile, he didn't. Blaine had his eyes trained on the council's table, making it look like he was paying attention, but Kurt could tell by the hazed-over look in his eyes that he was miles away. He was grinning, but it was closed mouth and Kurt could tell that it was forced by the twinge that he saw in Blaine's cheek from his vantage point.

Blaine turned to look at him at that point and Kurt stopped breathing for a second at the sudden movement. The other boy smiled at him, actually smiled at him, teeth peeking out from his lips and brightness coming off of him like daylight. But it only lasted so long before Wes was talking to Blaine again and they both had to turn to look at the front of the room.

*w* *w* *w*

Because most of the Warblers took AP classes and because most of them spent most of their time actually practicing their assigned line, David had suggested that they all gather for study hall on Friday, both as a way to get help on work and also as a place for them to do the 'Misery' number since they would all be in the same place anyway.

Kurt agreed. At least he could get some work done for his French paper that was due in a few weeks. But it turned out that that was pointless as Nick kept pestering for answers on the worksheet that was due that day.

"Please, Kurt, please!" Nick whined.

It went on like that for another five minutes before Kurt finally gave up and took out the worksheet with his own neatly written answers. Nick sighed in relief and leaned over to Kurt's side to get a good at the sheet. Kurt rolled his eyes and went back to work on his essay.

It was only a minute later that Blaine pushed open the doors and bellowed, "Oh yeah!"

The number was great and everyone was really enthusiastic with the dancing, but Kurt had actually wanted to work on his essay. Not to mention that, while listening to Blaine's voice was a soothing as any spa treatment, his voice was starting to lose some of his sharpness from lack of use.

He supposed that he talk to Blaine about it.

*w* *w* *w*

Kurt carried Pavarotti off with him down the adjourning hall and out to the small garden outside. He wasn't quite sure if talking to Blaine would provide the result that he wanted. It could possibly lead to Blaine standing up for the greater good of other vocally talented members, or it could lead to another vow of silence between the two of them. Pavarotti chirped, bringing Kurt out his thought process. He peered into the gold cage to look at the small bird.

Ever since he had met the canary, he had thought that it was the cutest thing he had even seen. The little bird seemed to understand his thoughts as well. He remembered how on the first day, when he had made a joke that no seemed willing to laugh at, that the canary had made a twittering sound that had sounded almost like a chuckle. For the first few weeks, he only had that bird to talk to.

The sun was blinding as he walked through the garden. A warm breeze blew by and the little bird chirped happily, flapping his wings a few times before settling down in one spot to enjoy the sun. Kurt smiled down at the little bird.

He walked through the campus back to the building where he and Blaine lived in. Taking the stairs up to the second floor, he walked to his door and unlocked it. The air was colder inside his room than the hall and he shivered. It was his own fault, he had left the air conditioner on when he had left that morning. He placed the bird cage on the small stand in the corner and then walked over to the wall to turn off the cold air.

He looked around the room, but it appeared that Anna was nowhere in sight. It was surprising since she only ever went other places if Kurt called her to where he was. She never really liked going any other place besides his room and the hall, and even then, she had become so accustomed to being with Kurt and Blaine that she never really left.

Kurt checked his wristwatch and saw that he only had ten minutes left to get to his next class. He blew a quick kiss to Pavarotti before he left the room.

*w* *w* *w*

Kurt went home that weekend, Pavarotti sitting his backseat chirping every so often. He missed being at home, missed the smell of Carole's pancakes in the morning, and the smudges of oil on all of his dad's clothes.

On Saturday, he finished most of the homework that was due on Monday and helped Carole go grocery shopping. There was only so much whining that they could put up from Finn before they snapped. On Sunday, Kurt baked a few batches of cookies before latching onto his computer to play some random games. Pavarotti sat quietly in his cage, huddled in his make-shift nest. Kurt didn't suspect anything from it. Pavarotti must have been tired or something.

Monday morning came and Kurt woke early to get ready to leave. He took a quick shower and put on simple sweats and his satin robe to do his moisturizing routine in. Pavarotti was much quieter than usual only chirping every few minutes. Once he had finished his face, he pulled out a nail file and started to grate the nails on his left hand. He looked in the mirror at himself and whistled a small tune.

A few seconds later, the bird chirped back to him in tune. Kurt grinned, he was glad to have Pavarotti singing again. The small creature hadn't been doing a lot of that lately. He continued whistling, pausing after a verse so Pavarotti could sing it back to him.

It went on for a few minutes until Kurt's lips started to hurt from the whistling and he stopped, smiling to himself in the mirror.

He heard a small clang behind him and turned to see what it was.

Pavarotti was lying on the floor of his golden cage, very quiet and very still.

"...Pavarotti?"

Kurt stood up from his vanity and walked over to the cage, sticking a finger between the cool, metal bars and nudging the bird with the tip of his finger. Pavarotti didn't move.

Panic rose inside him like an ugly storm and he rushed to open the hatch. He carefully grabbed the bird's body and cradled it in his hands. The creature felt cold, no signs of heartbeat or breathing. Kurt had no idea what to do. He felt sick and numb all at the same time and a choked sob escaped his throat.

He sat on his bed, the bird still in his hands, and ran a finger over the puffing chest, the soft yellow feathers tickling his fingertip. Pavarotti had been his friend. He had been put in charge of taking care of the bird and now...now he was gone.

Kurt remembered when his mother had died. He had only been eight, so he didn't really understand what was happening at the time. But that same sick feeling from then was back now. Like nothing in the world would ever be right again, like he just wanted to throw up and hide in his bed for the rest of eternity. With his mother, it had been much worse compared to now but there was still the thought.

He had cared for Pavarotti and, if he thought right, Pavarotti had cared for him as well. In times of desperation, Pavarotti had been there for him.

Tears fell in small streams down his face and dripped down his chin, landing on his robe. He sat there for minutes looking at the bird. Something in the back of his head hoped that the bird would suddenly pop up, flap its wings, and chirp before flying back over to its cage. But it didn't. Pavarotti was dead. And Kurt couldn't bring him back, no matter how hard he tried.

The footsteps of his father brought him out of his thoughts and he looked up in time to see his father walk in the door frame.

"Kurt, it's almost time to..." He trailed off when he saw Kurt's bloodshot eyes and the yellow ball of feathers in his hands.

"Kurt?" He walked over and sat next to his son.

The boy sniffled. "Pavarotti...he's...dead." He whispered the last word. The corner of his eyes prickled with fresh tears and he would have wiped them away if the bird wasn't in his hands, and that was something he wasn't willing to give up at the moment.

Burt wrapped and arm around his shoulders and hugged him to his side.

It took almost an hour before Kurt could let his father take Pavarotti's body from his hands and place it inside a shoe box for the time being until Kurt could make him a proper casket and give him a ceremony.

He ignored the uniform that was laid out on the bed and set out to create a new outfit. His dad had already called the school and told them that Kurt would not be coming in that day, but Kurt knew that there would be a Warblers meeting at the end of the day.

He pulled on a outfit consisting of black boots, jeans, and button down. The jacket he grabbed had a skull pendent that fit the mood he was in almost too perfectly.

After a bit of thought, he decided to sing a song to the Warblers. Whenever anyone was sad or upset or going through any other emotion in New Directions, they would sing about it. It helped to expressed your own feelings to others around you. He picked up his IPod and slowly dragged his thumb around, scrolling through artist. It didn't take as much time as he thought. The Beatles had always been a go-to song choice when he was feeling a bit blue. His mother had loved them as well.

In fact, he distinctly remembered her having a few cassette tapes...

*w* *w* *w*

After Kurt was done singing, he felt better. The tears had come back, but he had started his grieving process now. Wes had called for an immediate end to the meeting and no one protested. Kurt pulled a few tissues from his pocket and hastily wiped his face. The rest of the Warblers patted his back and gave him words of sympathy on their ways out. All Kurt could muster was a sad smile.

Blaine came up to him last. His cheeks were a bit red, and his eyes were slightly glazed over.

"Kurt-"

Before he finished, the other boy lurched forward and hugged him. Kurt just needed this. He needed the bit of comfort that Blaine could offer him. He rested his head on Blaine's shoulder and sniffled again. He could feel the beginning of a headache coming on and rubbed his forehead against the soft fabric of Blaine's blazer. The boy under his hold shuffled and carefully placed his hands on Kurt's back.

Kurt let out a sad sigh before he pulled back entirely from Blaine. "Thanks Blaine, I just...needed that." He smiled at him.

Blaine had his eyes fixed on Kurt as the other boy left the room

Since the school day was already over, Kurt was allowed to return back to his dorm room without interruption. His eyes were red and puffy whenever he looked at his reflection and he was still sniffling when he unlocked his door.

The room was just like how it was when he had left Saturday. He quickly walked across the room and closed the thick curtains before kicking off his boots and crawling into the queen-sized bed that every dorm had for their student.

He would get through this. He _was_ Kurt Hummel after all. He had suffered much worse blows before and he would get through this just like any other thing. He just needed a bit of time, a few cries, a song or twenty. He would get through this.

His eyes felt heavy and he allowed himself to slip off to sleep.

And then he was opening his eyes to some sort of knocking sound. At first, his eyes blurred in his rush to see what was making the noise before they focused and he was able to look around the large room.

He wasn't surprised to see Anna sitting cross-legged on his desk, flipping through the pile of books he had had stacked there. He groaned and rubbed his eyes which were still burning from the light. _Ugh, right. Ghost girl. But, why the light?_

Anna heard him and dropped the book that was in her hand (it looked like _The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe_) and floated over to the bed.

"Well, good morning to you, sleepy head. Or should I say, good evening? That seems much more appropriate."

Kurt carefully sat up; the pounding in his head more demur than it was how many hours ago.

"Anna, quiet voice please." He flipped the blankets off his body and padded his way into the bathroom to grab the bottle of aspirin he had in the cupboard. When you live in an all boys' school, it's kind of a necessity.

He grabbed a glass and filled it with water, popped a pill into his mouth, and gulped down half of the glass. Anna was hanging upside down when he came back into the room. He didn't feel like returning to his bed so he laid on the plush couch that was pushed up to the wall.

"What's the matter, Kurt?" Anna asked before floating over to sit on the arm rest.

Kurt curled in on himself. "Pavarotti...died."

"Oh, Kurt..."

He felt the cold breeze of Anna hand passing over his head, like she was trying to pat his hair. He sighed.

"If it's any consolation," Anna said. Kurt tilted his head to look up at her. "Animals get into heaven immediately."

Kurt's smile was watery, but he thanked Anna for the effort. Sighing again, he let his eyes close. It wasn't that he was tired, he probably had slept about five hours, but it was better to think with his eyes closed. He thought of all the things he would have to do. _Let's see, I missed today so I'll have to get the homework. I need to wash the uniform for Thursday and Friday. I have to go to the craft store to get supplies for Pavarotti's casket and then I'll have to find a place to bury him. Not to mention Regionals is at the end of the week._

Kurt internally groaned. If this week didn't kill him, he didn't know what would.

* * *

><p><strong><em>I was so sad writing Pavarotti dying because I've had animals that have meant the world to me die on me and it breaks me down.<em>**

**_And CP Coulter's Dalton update: SWEET CHEESUS THAT WAS SO SAD ESPECIALLY WITH COUGH SYRUP PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND AND I WAS SO CONCERNED ABOUT DWIGHT THAT I DIDN'T-_**

**_I will leave it there so not to ruin anyone. Reviews is all I ask for. And some neon blue sunnies. Just so I could be Riker for a moment._**


	13. Chapter 12

_***There is a blob hiding under a pink, fluffy blanket. You can hear muffled talking* In my defense, I had a play, friend drama, family drama, and my Knowledge bowl state thing last month. And I lost my laptop for a week. *pokes head out from under blanket* So please don't hurt me.**_

_**A little something: I actually started writing this story about a year ago, so happy LNTD anniversary!**_

_**Now, my normal thing. No kliss in this chapter but don't worry it will all work out. We are now half way into 'Original Song' and as I said last time we are on the final countdown.**_

_**Now on with the story...**_

* * *

><p>Kurt was still feeling the blow of having Pavarotti die on him the next day, but it was a less intense sting so he was able to get dressed in the morning and attend his classes. Although when he had woken up to Anna blissfully playing with the air vent, he realized that in his whole anxiety attack, he had almost forgotten that he was in charge of figuring out how Anna had died. He had almost slapped himself. Right in the face.<p>

But it wasn't like he had any time to actually do it. The end of the trimester was coming, which meant loads of reviewing to do, and Regionals was right on the horizon. After all of that, then he could probably get back to being a detective, but for now he had to focus on being a normal teenager.

And to add to the list of bad things, Blaine had suddenly decided that he needed to be at least three feet away from Kurt at all times. It wouldn't have been strange if Blaine hadn't already been a affectionate puppy the first time they met. Well, he wasn't so much a puppy, it was more that he just didn't have a limit at which he stopped invading a person's personal space. But now, it was as if Kurt had developed his own special brand of Blaine repellent.

Blaine still talked to him, but there was this newly made barrier that separated them. And even more rude, he had started moving closer to the other Warblers that were in the classes that they shared. Kurt mentally cursed Blaine over a hundred times in his head when he had gladly left his side to go help Trent with a mathematics equation.

He was still feeling down by the end of the day and had wished that he didn't need to attend a mandatory meeting after school so he could just go back to his dorm and start in on the huge pile of notes that he needed to study. Unfortunately, Wes was back in his 'win or die' mentality so it was useless trying to fight it.

Kurt sat idly by while the council started a fierce discussion on what _Blaine_ should sing. He leaned his arm on the side of the leather couch and rested his chin on his fist. He was feeling extremely discouraged right now. At this point, he actually considered going out on the street and singing just so he could be heard.

Blaine sat next to him. Or as close as Blaine would allow himself to sit next to Kurt. The chair that Blaine had pulled up next to the couch, so he was facing the council's table, didn't look that comfy and Blaine looked like he was already sick of being there already.

Thad and David started bickering, Wes trying to get them to calm down. Kurt glanced at the other warblers. Most were bored and leaning up against the furniture or trying to be eaten by their seats. Jeff looked like he was ready to fall asleep from his spot leaning up against a table.

Wes banged his gavel against the table once more.

"You know, I think Blaine's version of the song is actually better than the original." Thad said in that tone when he was trying to get something that he wanted.

"But," David said from the other side of Wes, "it's not in his natural key." Kurt could tell that he was tired of dealing with Thad. He could sympathize. There was only so much Thad that someone could take.

"How dare you!" Trent said from his place behind Kurt. Who knows how long this fight could go for?

Luckily, Blaine stopped them. "Enough," he flicked his hands in front of him, "I'm tired of this voice." And he did sound tired. In fact, he sounded exhausted. Kurt gave a passing glance to the boy.

"I agree," Thad said cheerfully. "I think we should just let you pick the song that you want to sing."

"No." Thad's face fell a bit. "I'm _tired_ of the Warblers being all about me." Kurt looked to see what else Blaine would say because so far it was actually interesting.

"David, please make sure that everything I'm about to say goes down in the official minutes." Said boy perked up at Blaine's words, immediately grabbing his pen and preparing to write down whatever was going to be said.

"We are going to lose at Regionals." As soon as Blaine said those words, pandemonium broke out. Everyone started shouting at Blaine and he was quick to bring his hands up in an act of defense. Kurt watched Blaine to see where the boy was going with this. The other boy usually didn't speak up at meetings, he just simply let the council guide him around the choreography and backgrounds. But not now. Now was a Blaine that was taking charge about how there was clearly a case of favoritism in the Warblers.

"I am!-I am _incredibly_ grateful for the belief you all have given me as a junior member to lead you all in these wonderful songs this year, but," he looked over to where Kurt sat, "from what Kurt has told me about New Directions, I-I just know that I can't beat them on my own."

Kurt glanced over to the council to see how they were reacting. Wes and David were listening intently while Thad had a look of confusion on his face.

"Which is why I propose we rearrange our 11 o'clock number," he paused, "and turn it into a duet."

Again, everyone started yelling and shouting their own opinions. It reminded Kurt of how New Directions acted when Rachel had an idea, except there was less noise and threats of violence.

"To showcase other talent in this group-!" Blaine tried to shout over the others.

David threw his pen at the table. "Why don't we just play it on kazoos?"

Blaine stood up shouting, "Point of order! Point of order!"

All of the Warblers silenced.

"Now, we all lost one of our own this week. Pavarotti's voice was silenced by death, a-and I don't want to silence anyone else's voices in this group. I think Pavarotti would roll over in his," he smiled, "tiny, tiny little grave-"

"The placement of which has yet to be determined." Kurt interjected.

"Alright, a vote," Wes said, drawing the attention of everyone. "Who's in favor of Warbler Blaine's proposal for a duel lead at Regionals?"

Although it was a bit slow, everyone in the room eventually raised their hands in mutual agreement. Kurt flittered his hand in the air to show that he agreed before turning to the council in his seat.

He stage-whispered, "Oh, oh, can I put my name on that audition list?" He winked at them, clicking his tongue, and shooting his fingers at them. _Just go with it, Kurt, maybe they'll think that you didn't just do that._

"No." Blaine said sternly. Kurt looked to him in confusion. Was Blaine trying to stop him from a solo?

"No auditions." He took in a deep breath. "I want to sing the duet, "he locked eyes with the pale young man, "with Kurt."

He could feel his heart start thrumming in his chest; actually hear the blood rushing in his veins. He wondered if this is what a heart attack felt like, like all of a sudden, your heart just wants to push its way past your ribs and through your skin.

"Tha-that's ridiculous." He tried to shrug it off. He was getting way too excited way too quickly. It was always possible that the council would say no or others would fight him for it. "I mean, there's so many great voices. I mean-everyone deserves a shot at that honor."

"All in favor of Kurt being my duet partner at Regionals?" Blaine asked.

Blaine himself was the first to raise his hand, Jeff, who was behind him, second, and everyone else only took a moment's thought to raise their hand as well. The council raised their hands as well, though Thad looked like he was doing it painfully.

"Decided." Wes smiled at him, almost like he knew a secret. He banged his gavel to make it official.

"Congratulations, Kurt." Thad said, though it was a bit offhanded and he was more focused on the papers in front of him. The papers for his number.

His fellow Warblers applauded him, Trent and Nick patting his shoulders. Blaine smiled at him, with hope and pride, clapping as eagerly as everyone else.

*w* *w* *w*

They only had two and a half days to pick a song and rework it to for the back vocals of the Warblers. Wednesday afternoon, which he usually spent going to his house and seeing his family, was rather spent visiting the local craft supplies stores and taking everything back to Dalton so he could start working on Pavarotti's casket. He loved him enough to not want to bury his body in a ratty shoe box.

Kurt had found a small, plain, black jewelry box that would hold the bird's body comfortably. He carried in bags full of fake jewels and glue bottles onto the campus and headed for his always helpful hall. Well, it was actually more of Anna's hall, but Kurt had started going to it so often that the dust had actually stopped settling onto the seats and table.

He walked to the North Corridor and shuffled into the building, following his usual path to the hall on the left side. He opened the door and bumped it closed with the side of his hip. The hall was warm and he had pulled the curtains back the last time he had came to study so sun shone through the windows. Maybe one day he would come with some cleaning supplies and a thread and needle and fix up the place, restore it to its former glory. Just another little project for him.

Kurt set down the bags on the table and started to take out the assorted containers of jewels and colored glues. He set them out across the small table and sat down to get to work. He felt so calm, working silently by himself with no one to bother him.

The sun sunk in the sky as he continued working on Pavarotti's casket. He was placing small droplets of glue on the side of some fake sapphires to insure they would stick when he heard some shuffling outside the hall's door. Seconds later the door was gently pushed open and Blaine stuck his head out from behind it.

"Hey, Kurt." He said quietly. "I…I've been looking for you forever."

He only gave a small glance at the other boy before returning back to his work. "Oh, hey Blaine." His hand slipped in jewel and he silently cursed himself before returning back.

Blaine walked into the room, closing the door behind him, and sat down in the raggedy chair next to Kurt's. "What's that?"

"I'm decorating Pavarotti's casket."

"Oh, well, finish up. I think I have the perfect song for our number and I think we should practice." Kurt finally looked up to lock eyes with Blaine. He put the glue bottle down and started playing with the tips of his fingers where some glue had gotten stuck and was now peeling off his skin. He pushed his thumb nail where there was a sheen of white coating his pointer finger.

"Do tell?"

"Candles by Hey Monday." Kurt's brows shot up a bit. He was surprised that Blaine wasn't picking something more…Top 40. He was just about to voice this opinion when a glimmer of pallid fabric came into his peripheral. He rolled his eyes, not seeing Blaine follow the motions of his eyes.

"Anna's here." Kurt said, but he was more humored than saddened.

Blaine turned to look behind him. "Where?"

"Over here." Said Anna from her spot beside Kurt, now fully visible. Blaine jumped and turned back to face Kurt and Anna. "How did you even see her?" He asked Kurt.

Kurt sighed. "I think I'm getting a little to use to Anna." He turned to the ghost. "I'm gonna miss you when you're gone, you know."

"Oh, Kurt, don't even make me think of it. The only thing that's keeping me from crying is the fact that I can't cry and that I'll be able to see my family once again." She patted his shoulder but it felt more like a cool breeze passing by his face. "Speaking of which, any leads on my murder?"

Blaine groaned and leaned back in his chair. "We're working on it, Anna, but there isn't a lot that we have to work with it." He brushed his hand over his eyes and Kurt glanced up at the same time, locking hazel and blue. _We can't tell her about Christina; it'll break her already dead heart._

_Well, what do we tell her?_ Blaine sent back.

"Anna, can you excuse me and Blaine? We have to practice for our duet for Regionals." Anna nodded and floated up towards the ceiling.

"I'll just…leave you two. Alone. To practice." She gave a provocative wink before phasing through the wall.

They brought their gazes back from the ceiling to each other.

"Well?" Blaine asked.

"We don't tell her anything. At least, not until we are completely sure that it was Christina. I don't want it to be completely wrong and have her resent us for it after, okay?" Blaine nodded and straightened his posture in his chair. "So…are we going to practice?"

"Oh!" Kurt had almost forgotten. "Of course, do you have the sheet music?"

*w* *w* *w*

They practiced 'Candles' for the rest of Wednesday afternoon, only taking breaks to get water and for Kurt to apply another layer of glue to Pavarotti's casket. Thursday was almost the same, though the school day was spent making sure that they had hall their homework done and collected for their Friday classes since they would be gone all day. Kurt and Blaine had to do about two performances of 'Candles' before Wes deemed it worthy of being their opening number. After that, Kurt was forced to ender another four performances of 'Raise Your Glass' before everyone was allowed to leave and go to their dorms. Kurt was willing to fall right into bed and just sleep until his alarm clock woke him up, but he was not willing to pass up his skin care routine and allow himself to the chance of getting acne in the next twenty-four hours. By the time that he actually climbed under his comforter it was 11 and the last thing that he saw was the violent red of his alarm clock.

He woke up with a jump, high-pitched beeping ringing in his ears and making him wish that he would have at least set the alarm to the radio, but then he couldn't risk waking up to rap music. Kurt slapped his hand down on the annoying machine and flipped over onto his back, the blankets falling to his exposed stomach. It was only six and yet Kurt felt like he had only slept a minute. The bus for Regionals was leaving at 8 o'clock so he had longer than usual to get ready.

Kurt pushed himself out of bed and practically crawled to the bathroom to shower. He washed, shaved, and went through his morning skin routine before getting into his uniform. He was running a small amount of product through his hair when someone knocked on his door and opened it a second later.

"Kurt?" Blaine shouted from his spot in the hallway.

"In the bathroom!" Kurt shouted back, rushing to make sure every hair was in place before he left the sanctity of the lavatory. Blaine was already sitting on his bed, dressed in his uniform, and sipping his own coffee while holding Kurt's. Kurt padded out into the main room and grabbed his coffee from Blaine's hand. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Blaine said.

Kurt sat down at his desk chair and swiveled it to face Blaine. "So, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Good," Blaine shrugged, "I don't really get stage fright anymore so I'm pretty calm at the moment." He took a sip of his coffee and hugged the cup in both hands. "How are you feeling?"

Kurt grimaced behind the lid of his coffee. "I'm great right now, but once we get there I'm probably going to go into cardiac arrest."

"You get stage fright?"

"No, it's just…" Kurt put the coffee down on the desk behind him and lent back into the chair, threading his finger together and stretching them across his stomach. "This is the first time that I get to shine in the spotlight at a competition. Well, shine in the spotlight with you, but that's better than anything." He smiled at Blaine. "I mean, as opposed to not being there at all."

Blaine nodded, pulling out the pocket watch in his blazer pocket. "Well, the bus leaves in ten minutes. Why don't you put on your shoes and we can finish our drinks on the way there, hm?"

"Sure." Kurt got up and walked to his closet, pulling out his shined pair of dress shoes and bringing them back to sit on the bed with Blaine so he could put them on. A minute later, he and Blaine were leaving with their trench coats on over their blazers and scarves slung around their shoulders.

Nick and Jeff are already leaning on each other and are eating what appear to be breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds when Kurt and Blaine make it outside to where the bus is. When Jeff saw them, he perked up and started to furiously wave at them, not stopping until Kurt waved back at them.

Jeff was breathing heavily by the time Kurt walked up to him. "Kurtie-" pant "-why didn't-" pant "-you wave" pant "-back?"

"I was having too much fun watching you." He said with a serious face, but on the inside he was having trouble not smiling. Jeff pulled his face into the most intense frown that Kurt had ever seen and he finally allowed himself to laugh aloud. Nick patted Jeff's head to try and calm the boy down and then took out a pack of m & m's from his bag. Jeff grabbed them, but he was still sulking a bit.

Wes came around with a clipboard a moment later. "Alright, guys, just make sure I know you're here, get on the bus, and don't get off it. We are leaving exactly at 8 and I honestly don't care if we leave anyone behind. Except for Kurt and Blaine." David came up beside him. "Make sure we don't leave behind Kurt and Blaine."

David put his hand on Wes' shoulder. "Wes, calm down, dude"

Wes put his own hand on his friend's shoulder. "David, I will calm down when we win. Until then, I suggest that you take your hand off me or I will rip it off with my teeth. Okay?" David took his hand back and nodded. "Thank you. Now go on the bus." The other boy edged away. "Go!" And David ran the rest of the way to the bus.

"Now," he said to the other four boys that were standing there, "Kurt, Blaine, Jeff, Nick, get on the bus." With Wes' death glare staring them down, they didn't need to be told twice. A few of the other boys were already seated in the back of the bus. The small group chose to sit in the very front seats, each splitting off into their own couple.

Blaine got the window, Kurt pressed along his side, and both of them drank their coffee and watched as the rest of the Warblers walked across the campus and joined them on the bus, Wes ticking off their names on the sheet that he has. Trent sat behind Nick and Jeff, glancing over the wall of the seat to watch Jeff play on his tablet.

Kurt finished off his cup of coffee and stood to throw it away at the front of the bus. He silently offered to throw away Blaine's as well and the other boy shyly handed him the empty cardboard cup. He sat back down and Wes climbed up the stairs. He was able to get the attention of everyone in the front but all the boy who had chosen to sit in the back were yelling at each other.

"Guys!" Wes yelled over the roar of boys. He wished he was able to bring his gavel with him but unfortunately it kind of belonged to the school. The boys settled down and moved to actually sit in the seats.

"Okay, it's 8 right now. By the time we get to the auditorium it will be about 8:45 and we'll all have time to either get into seats in the audience or go backstage and stay in one of the green room. _Please_-", he stressed the word, "-tell me where you're going. We don't need a repeat of last year when Eli wandered off and found the girls' dressing room for one of the other teams." All of the Warblers, sans Kurt, groaned in unison at the memory of the poor boy that came back with a slapped face and torn dress shirt and slacks.

"We all good?" Wes asked everyone. There were assorted answers, all of them positive. "Okay then." He nodded to the bus driver and then walked down the aisle to sit with David. The bus lerched forward and started driving out of the Dalton campus and onto the road. Kurt watched the landscape move past them through the window. Well, at least, that's what he wanted everyone to think. In reality, he was outlining Blaine's profile with his eyes. So sue him. He may not be tripping over his own feet in order to win Blaine's heart, but he was still falling hard, even now. And if falling in love with Blaine was worse than tripping into a black hole, then he'll take his chances.

* * *

><p><em><strong>I just listened to 'Fighter'...Eargasm, I not even joking.<strong>_

_**I've also started writing some original stuff of Figment. If you want to find it, search 'in time series'. It's a series of one-shots that tell the story of how four friends deal with one of them having cancer.**_

**_I only ask for reviews, my lovelies. _**


	14. Chapter 13: Interlude II

_***Dramatic music, fog, lights, all that jazz* Yes, I have returned. let me just start off with some general news that I feel is important.**_

_**I am done with my mother, I have no plans to talk to her when I graduate school, I am in a strange relationship with a boy where we aren't technically dating, I passed all my classes for my junior year, I started writing my book, I was at Comic-Con and at DaltCon this year, I FINALLY got a new battery for my laptop so now I can take it with me to strange places, I have become obsessed with John and Hank Green and all of John's books, three of which I have read and I am currently in CA, staying with my cousin who has no air conditioning in her house.**_

_**So that happened. And I'm back on this.**_

_**I would like to say that I promise to finish this story before my birthday, which I share with the lovely Lea Michele, on the 29th of August. Which is also my first day of my senior year of high school. **_

* * *

><p>It's only a month into her junior year. 1962 has proven thus far to be a pleasant year and Christina thinks she knows exactly why. Everett. He had come to her house on the other side of town and had sat her father down to ask if he could take her out on a date. After an interrogation and much consideration, Daniel Monroe finally allowed his eldest daughter to go on a date. And Christina thanked her father for it every day since. Everett made her happier than she ever thought was possible.<p>

Fall is slightly windy now, the end of September breaching into October and the chill is seeping into her bones, making her have to drag out the thicker pantyhose to cover her legs. She walks with her arm looped through Everett, his other arm holding the majority of her books for her Thursday classes. And they say chivalry is dead. Well, she doesn't know who 'they' are but they are clearly wrong.

"…And I have no idea why he did it, but the whole class burst into laughter and even Mr. Cook let out a laugh." Christina chuckles at the end and tilts her head up a bit to look at Everett's face. His blonde hair glistens in the afternoon light and his blue eyes are like pools that she can get lost in. It may sound cheesy, but in this scenario, it's completely true. She sighs while Everett continues to talk about his day. They walk across the campus, around the fountain, trading stories on what has happened in their classes so far that day.

It's only when they cross in front of the large selection of trees that litter one quadrant of the yard do they encounter Anna. It's not that Christina is trying to avoid Anna. She is her best friend and roommate, so it's almost impossible for her to actually avoid her. But…Anna is acting weird lately. And not in an Anna sort of way. They will be completely fine, chatting away, until something about Everett comes up and it seems like Anna either doesn't want to talk about him or switches the topic so quickly that Christina can't do anything other than go along with it. It's really putting a damper on their friendship and everything feels strained when they're in the same room.

Everett doesn't think any of it, or at all about it. Christina's not entirely sure that Everett even knows that there is an imaginary war being fought over his head, but she feels no need to bring him in to it now. All she really needs to do is maintain her grades and a healthy relationship with what might be the man of her dreams. She suspects that Everett is going to ask her to go steady any day now.

"Hey there, guys." Anna all but nearly shouts at them, coming up from behind and pushing her way through their linked arms. Everett stops talking, but he doesn't say anything. Christina presumes it must be because he wants to be on the good side of all her friends and disregarding one of them would mean losing brownie points with Christina. That's not the case at all, though. Because now, it's going too far. Now, Anna is purposefully bothering them just for the sake that Christina can't talk to Everett _at all_.

It's _irritating_ her.

"Um," she clears her throat, "hello, Anna." The tension is so thick in her voice that it comes out a bit jagged. "What are you doing? Christina says through clenched teeth.

"Oh, just hanging out with some of my friends, that's all." Anna tries to throw her arms over both of their shoulders. Christina simply shimmies her shoulders a bit so it looks like Anna's arm falls, and Everett is just too tall for Anna's arm to stay in place. "But just for a moment," Anna continues. She suspects that Anna is ignoring their attempts at ignoring her. Anna isn't stupid; she knows when she's not wanted.

"Chrissy and I need to go study for my exam in Arithmetic. Lord knows what I would do without her." She ends the sentence by linking their arms together. Since Anna is taller, her arms folds out first. She starts to lead her away, but Christina digs her heels into the ground to stop.

"Actually, Anna, I was going to go to the dinner with Everett across the street before I came and helped you with the tutoring." She flicks her eyes over at him, trying to send the message _I told you about our date yesterday, did you suddenly forget?_

"But, Chrissy," Anna pouts her lips and makes large doe eyes at her. "you know how terrible I am at inequalities! How do you expect me to pass the exam without you?" She keeps the face steady, the cool air making her cheeks flush a light pink.

Christina shakes her head a bit, like she can actually clear her mind. She can't, but it's a nice try. Anna's face is still doing that…_thing_, with her lips and eyes, like small kitten and she can't take it anymore.

She sighs. "Okay, hold on."

Christina turns to Everett, who has been watching them the whole time. "Everett, I'm sorry-"

He holds his hands up, stopping her in mid-sentence. "It's fine, Christina, really. Go help Anna. Isn't that what best friends do?" He gives her the sweetest smile and she feels her heart melt in her chest.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Everett nods and she leans up to place a soft kiss on his cheek before she's being led away by her arm by Anna.

"Come along, Chrissy. It's not like I'm going to learn inequalities with you just standing there." She pulls Christina closer so they're walking at the same distance. "Let's go to the hall, okay?"

Christina sighs. "Yeah, okay." She allows Anna to drag her the rest of the way. Anna starts to talk, going on about Arithmetic and just how awful their teacher is. She turns her face to look towards the North corridor, looking right at the spot where the hall's window is.

While her head is turned, it gives someone the perfect angle to glare at the back of her head and, if looks could kill, Anna would have two bullet holes in her skull.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Serious shiz, guys. <strong>_

_**At the moment, it does look like this story will be about 19 or 20 chapters long. **_

_**And, while looking up some info on book writing, I found out that this story (so far) has already become what would be considered a novel.**_

_**I FUCKING WROTE A NOVEL. THIS IS NOVEL LENGTH. HOLY SHIT.**_


	15. Chapter 14

_**Oh yeah. Got this out pretty quickly, so yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. Cheers.**_

**Okay, so something to ask my readers. Any of you going to Comic Con 2013? I am (potentially, cause god knows money) next year and I am going to cosplay as Castiel, a Hogwarts Student or Hermione Granger, Sherlock, and a Warbler. So, my question, or questions, are: would any of you want to share a hotel room? Or potentially cosplay with me? Let me know, kay. Send me a PM on here or a message at my tumblr, analyticalpeacock.**

_**Also, I have decided I want a ukulele for Christmas. Gimme please.**_

* * *

><p>"Also, I can never eat cucumbers. Like, ever." Mercedes said, shaking her head and looking off into the distance, like she was remembering a horrible event.<p>

Kurt blinked. "Why?"

She turned to look at him and said, "Trust me, you don't need to know, Kurt. Just know that I can't be in the same room as Ms. Holiday ever again."

He pressed his lips into a tight line but decided not to push it any further.

So, they lost. And by 'they', he meant the Warblers lost. They came in second place, behind New Directions but at least ahead of Aural Intensity, because Kurt wasn't sure how he would have taken it if they had lost to a group with a name as stupid as theirs.

He was chatting with Mercedes and Rachel while he waited for Wes to gather up the rest of the Warblers and place them on the bus. The only reason he hadn't been placed on the bus yet was because Wes surprisingly trusted him and felt he had no reason to gather Kurt yet, as long as he stayed with ND. He was happy that New Directions had won. Kurt was proud of his friends, proud of the fact that they pushed the limits and didn't just stepped out of the box, but jumped out of it and did a somersault. Although, you know, he wanted to win. _Badly_.

But he was fine. Would be fine and cope with it.

"Kurt, it's just isn't going to be the same without you when we go to New York." Rachel said as she curled an arm around his back and pulled him close to her side. "I mean, it's practically our home at this point. Even though neither one of us have ever been there before."

"Well," Kurt smiled, "at least you'll be able to experience it for the both of us. Promise to take lots of pictures for me." He hugged her back. "And your song was amazing, by the way."

A light blush covered Rachel's face. "Aw, thanks Kurt. I had to reach into the deepest parts of my soul to write it, so to know that you loved it means the world to me."

Kurt chuckled at his friend and was about to say something when he saw a flash of navy and red out of the corner of his eye. Blaine.

Rachel saw him before Kurt really did and immediately turned her whole body in his directions. Mercedes caught this and followed Rachel's eyes before spotting Blaine on her own and, at that moment, Kurt swore that Mercedes and Rachel were telepathically having a conversation about how to embarrass them as much as they could.

"Blaine!" Rachel shouted, catching the boy's attention. He jogged forward and was soon surrounded by the duo.

"Hello, Rachel. Hello, Mercedes. Congratulations on your win. You guys deserved it." He said in his 'suave' voice, as Kurt had named it. He had used it a lot on Kurt when they had first met. As time went, though, his voice trailed off into other patterns and pitches and emotions, most of the time only shown in front of Kurt.

"Blaine, so nice to see you again." Rachel said, "May I just say that your guys' duet was beautiful and I'm going to preserve the little plastic candle in my performance scrapbook."

Mercedes rolled her eyes playfully at Rachel before adding, "Yeah, it was amazing. Glad to see Kurt getting some of the spotlight."

"Yeah, it's great singing with Kurt. His voice is something special." Blaine's voice went soft at the end and Kurt blushed. Rachel and Mercedes watched in amusement.

"Uh, t-thanks Blaine." Kurt managed to say. The girls snickered and he whipped his head around to glare at them. Blaine laughed at Kurt's reaction, and Kurt whipped his head back to look at him, but he didn't send him the same glare that he did seconds ago.

"Ah! Messing with the enemies! I'm disappointed in you, Berry."

Kurt groaned. He knew that voice all too well. Before he knew it, he was turning around to see Noah Puckerman walking towards the small group, a smug look across his face.

"Ah, Puck, good to see you haven't changed," Kurt said. "Been staying out of juvie?"

Puck smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "You know it, Hummel. How's life at Hogwarts?"

Kurt raised a brow. "That makes no sense."

"Of course it does." Puck scoffed. "Ya wear uniforms, the school is like some sort of secret, and there's tons of fairy magic."

Kurt couldn't see his own face, but if there was a mirror nearby, he was sure that the look of his face would be close to something like '_you are some kind of special stupid'_.

"You know I can punch you, right?" Kurt said, rubbing his knuckles against his chest.

Puck gave him a shit-eating grin. "Yeah, I know, but its fun pissing you off, and I haven't seen you in a month so I have to use every chance that I get."

Kurt sighed, but smiled anyway. Puck was a strange friend to have.

"Oh, hey, is that Anderson? Yo, Anderson! What's up?!" and Puck was off, running past him. Kurt wasn't that surprised. A conversation between him and Puck could never last long before the other boy got distracted. He spun on his heel and followed Puck to where he was interrupting Blaine, Rachel, and Mercedes.

Puck fist-bumped Blaine as greetings. "Man, Blaine, you were one sick party animal. Sorry, I didn't get a chance to tell ya, but I was already pretty wasted by the time you got started."

Blaine chuckled nervously, rubbing his hand at the nape of his neck. "Oh, yeah. I…don't really remember that much about that night. Last thing I remember was talking to Finn about how tall he was and then the next thing I knew, I was at Kurt's house with a massive headache."

The group laughed. Kurt laughed as well, glad that Blaine hadn't mentioned that he had woken up in Kurt's _bed_. That would have taken even more time explaining to his friends than it did to his dad.

"That is a quality sign of a good night's partying." Puck affirmed him.

"Yes, but you guys left me to all the cleaning!" Rachel said, crossing her arms and changing into her diva-self. Puck chuckled and then groaned in pain when she slapped his arm sharply.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to have a party. Not my fault."

Mercedes snorted and nodded her head. "He has a point."

"Oh, shut up." Rachel pouted but didn't say another word after that. Both girls left when Tina called them over to where her and Mike were chatting.

Blaine watched in amusement until his eyes flicked back to Puck when the taller boy turned back to him. "So, Blaine."

He raised an eyebrow. "So, Noah-"

Puck raised his hand to stop Blaine. "Please, call me Puck. Everybody does." He sighed like it was some sort of annoyance but Kurt knew that Puck hated his real name with a passion and would change his name permanently to Puck in a second.

"Okay, Puck."

"You and Kurt sang."

"Yes."

"Together."

"Um, yeah."

"Yes, Puck." Kurt interrupted. "We sang. Together." He tried as hard as he could to glare it Puck. There didn't seem to be any affect, though.

"Yeah, I saw. It was awesome, actually. You guys are really good."

"Oh." Kurt was surprised. He figured Puck would have something snarky to say about their performance.

"You guys completely killed that song. It was amazing." He paused. "I mean, you know, for two guys."

Kurt smiled. Puck had changed a lot over the past year, and one of the biggest things that had changed about him was how he acted around Kurt and Kurt's sexuality. He was glad that Puck was trying as hard as he could to not insult them. Kurt suspected that old habits die hard and the fact that he knew Puck actually gave a shit about his feelings made his heart warm.

"Thanks, Puck." Blaine said. "Like I said with Rachel, singing with Kurt is an amazing experience."

Puck scoffed. "If he's so amazing, why hasn't he sang with Puckzilla yet?"

"Probably because you still refer to yourself as 'Puckzilla'." Kurt said. Puck laughed. They continued the conversation, pausing when Rachel and Mercedes came back because, apparently, 'Tina and Mike started getting a little _frisky_ in front of them', and the conversation somehow diverged to the topic of dinosaurs vs. robots, with Puck and Mercedes on Team Dinosaur, Blaine and Rachel on Team Robot, and Kurt firmly on Team Why Am I Friends With You People Again?.

Eventually, though, Wes came and fetched them. Kurt hugged Rachel and Mercedes goodbye, promising them each a phone call and a shopping trip once he got permission. Puck offered a fist bump, and in the spur of the moment, Kurt tapped his fist against the other boy's. He shouted over the collected mummer to the rest of New Directions, saying he would seem them all soon and that he would see Finn when he visited home. Finn shouted back, "Cool! See you, bro!"

Blaine and Kurt walked back to the bus with Wes, not seeing Puck turn to Rachel and Mercedes and say, "So, are they dating or what?"

*w* *w* *w*

Most of the Warblers were exhausted and decided to take short naps on the ride back to Dalton. Well, mostly just the back of the bus. The front of the bus, which once again contained Kurt, Blaine, Nick, Jeff, Trent, Wes, and David, seemed to buzz with energy. Jeff was playing on his tablet again, stuck in an intense battle of Fruit Ninja, so intense that Nick started to hand-feed him Sour Patch Kids while Jeff kept his eyes focused on the screen. Trent watched lazily from his seat, his chin resting on top of the divider. Wes and David were talking about the Warblers performing in a few more random places, like the 'Gap Attack'.

Kurt and Blaine were the only ones not really talking. Blaine had the window seat again and seemed more focused on chasing the trees that they passed with his eyes. Kurt was fine with not talking. He'd be better _with_ talking, but it wasn't a necessity. He had his own distractions to deal with as well. Like the warm press of Blaine along his side, or how the skin of his thigh felt way too hot because, technically, there were only two layers of fabric separating their skin. And Kurt needed to stop thinking. He tended to start thinking like this when he was too close to Blaine.

The second place trophy was harbored in Wes' hands, as he refused to let anyone but David touch it. Kurt twisted his head around to look at it. He had seen a lot of second place trophies before and this one looked just like the others. It made a bitter flood of cold rush to the bottom of his stomach, swishing around before resting there and making him feel like he was almost sinking.

"Hey." Blaine said. It was the first time he had spoken since they had sat down on the seat.

Kurt turned back from looking at the small trophy to look at Blaine's face. He hummed in the back of his throat to show that Blaine had gained his attention.

"What…what are you doing this weekend?"

"Um, I was thinking I was going to go to my house for the weekend. You know, catch up with my family." Kurt said, rolling his phone in the palm of his hand.

Blaine nodded. "Okay. That's cool."

"Although…"

"Although?"

"Well, I finally finished Pavarotti's casket and I would really like to bury him this week."

Blaine's fingers tapped on his thighs. "We could do it this weekend. I could drive out and help you bury him."

Kurt's face split into a wide grin, teeth and all. "Really? That'd be great."

Blaine smiled as well. There was a light shade of pink that had started to cover the highs of his cheeks. "Yeah. We have a small shovel that we keep in the shed for the garden. It's the perfect size for burying a canary-sized casket."

Kurt giggled. It was the first time he had full on giggled in years. Sure, laughs and chuckles. But a giggle was different. A giggle was something that couldn't be controlled, even the slightest. Kurt had always thought they were like shooting stars, at least for him, since it didn't happen that often. He liked giggling. He liked the feeling of giggling. He liked the feeling of giggling with _Blaine._

"So, Saturday?" Blaine asked.

Kurt thought it over and then shook his head. "No, I think Sunday would work better. I have a few things I need to do for my dad and Carole on Saturday, but Sunday is going to be mostly free. Can we do it before noon?" Blaine nodded and Kurt smiled again.

"Thanks, Blaine." He quickly patted Blaine's thigh before pulling it back and stuffing it inside his coat pocket. The tips of his fingers felt like the skin had just been shocked.

He sat still, silence settling between them again as Blaine turned back to the window again and Kurt leaned back, slumping in his seat. He jumped in his seat when Jeff let out a particularly loud curse and Kurt turned to look at him just in time to see Jeff almost slam his tablet into the side of the bus, the only thing stopping him being Nick holding him back and shouting, "YOU'RE PARENTS WILL KILL YOU, MAN!"

Kurt chuckled and then turned to laugh about with Blaine, but stopped when he saw that the other boy had fallen asleep, his face smooshed against the window pane and his breath fogging up the glass. He sighed quietly and leaned back in his seat once again.

*w* *w* *w*

_I can't believe we lost. Blaine's performances were perfect…_

_It's all Kurt's fault, I bet. If he hadn't sung that stupid duet with Blaine, we probably would have won!_

_God, this sucks. I had already had a special place set up in the meeting room for the council to put the first place trophy at. That second place trophy won't work! It's just going to look pathetic standing next to all the other first place trophies._

_Kurt…Kurt has been a pain in my ass for way too long. First, he comes and completely distracts Blaine from the competition and then he wants to solve that…that accident. And if he even thinks that he CAN solve this, then he is dead wrong! I won't allow anyone to tarnish _my _family name. My family, which has done so much for Dalton Academy in the past 50 years, has too much to lose from _this. _This cannot be the down fall of the O'Malley heritage._

_I've had enough of him. It's time I take care of Kurt._

_For the family._

_For Grandpa Everett and Grandma Christina._

* * *

><p><em><strong>BUM BUM BUUUUUUUUUUM.<strong>  
><em>

_**BOOM. Oh yeah. That's right. Serious stuff happening in these last few chapters. And, yes, when Blaine asked Kurt what he was doing this weekend, he was going to ask Kurt out on a date. POOR BABY. YOU SO NERVOUS.**_

_**Reviews are much appreciated!**_


	16. Chapter 15

_**Oh, god. I thought this would be **_**way _longer. If I had knew it would be this short, I would have just tacked it on to the last chapter. Too late now._**

**Important: Since the last time I posted, I have done some research on another convention: LeakyCon. I found out it's going to be in Portland next year, which is only a few hours away from me. So, for the last couple days, I've been having a moral dilemma about whether or not I wanted to go to Comic Con+DaltCon or LeakyCon. I have come to the conclusion that I will be going to LeakyCon (I will probably not be receiving presents from my mom for the next decade or so), and I will NOT be going to Comic Con.**

**HOWEVER  
><span>I will be going to DaltCon<span>. It is not a official part of Comic Con and therefore I do not need to register and the only real argument for going to Comic Con was DaltCon. It would just be easier for me and Dayna to drive down to San Diego rather than me spend 4 days not really doing anything. So.**

**I suppose now, I will be looking for people to share a hotel room with at LeakyCon! PM me or send me a message on my tumblr!**

**_Now, back to the story. Serious shit is going down._  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The sun was starting to set when the bus pulled into the Dalton Academy parking lot. Jeff had calmed down from his game-fueled rage and was now ready for a long nap. Kurt watched as he was dragged out of the parking lot by Nick, Jeff's body being held up by one arm around his chest. The others seem to be in the same slump as well, all of them slowly walking away to either their car or to their spread out dorm rooms across the campus.<p>

Kurt and Blaine were a little more energized than the rest of the group because of their lime-light, but they still walked with the sluggishness that everyone had caught from standing for a long period of time. His leg felt weak but the walking seemed to drive blood into his veins and get the feeling back.

"So, are you going to go back to your room or…?" Blaine asked.

"I'm going to go back really quick and say goodbye to Anna for the weekend and probably try and pick up some of the books that I need-"

"Oh, shit." Blaine stopped in his tracks and looked over to the other side of campus.

Kurt stopped as well. "What?"

Blaine turned to him. "I forgot I was supposed to pick up a book from the library for one of my papers. I kind of need it, too. The papers due Wednesday and I was hoping to work on it this weekend."

Kurt sighed, shaking his head but smiling anyway. "Blaine." He said in a chiding tone.

"I know, I know." Blaine said, playing along. Kurt laughed. It was funny to Kurt. He imagined that this was how old married couples acted.

He sighed again. "Okay, you go get the book, I go say goodbye to Anna, and we meet back here?" Blaine nodded and took the cement path to the right. Kurt took the path to the left and started the quick trip to the dormitory.

The cool air nipped at his neck and he pulled the collar of his jacket higher. It was quiet and his steps echoed and bounced off the trees back to him. Kurt felt like something was…off. Something wasn't quite right, and he couldn't pin-point what it was. It was like before he met Anna, yelling at nothing in the middle of an empty hall. There was a shift in the air that made a pit start to build in his stomach. But he kept on walking.

By the time that he got to his dorm house, the sky looked like it was almost on fire. He walked up the staircase and walked down the halls, turning right and then left, coming down his hall.

As he got closer to his door, he noticed that there was a piece of paper taped to his door, flapping in the breeze of the air conditioning. His curiosity took over and his steps speed up until he was close enough to reach a hand out and rip the paper off the door.

Kurt wasn't sure what he was going to read; in the past, he would have figured that the paper had some sort of insult written on it or a threat to the glee club. But here, at Dalton, he had no idea what to expect.

It took him a few seconds for his eyes to focus and find where the scrawled writing started before he could actually read it.

**You have gone too far, Hummel.**

**This murder was one thing that never needed to be solved.**

**I'm giving you half an hour to get off campus before I come after you.**

**If I don't find you, I expect you to stop all attempts at solving the death of Anna Matthews.**

**If you don't stop, I will come after you.**

**I will get you.**

Ice ran in Kurt's veins as he read the note and he felt like at any moment he would start to choke on the air around him. He had gotten some pretty bad death threats in the past, one of them face-to-face, this was bone-chilling. Dalton was supposed to be safe but…

_No_, Kurt thought. He wouldn't let this go. Anna was dead, had been dead for the past 50 years and nobody knew a thing about what actually happened. Lord knows what even happened before.

_Wait._ It hit him like a slap in the face and he rushed to pull his keys out and unlock the door. The second he was in he started calling, "Anna! Anna!"

He kept at it until he saw the faint glimmer in the air that meant that Anna was there. "Kurt, are you okay?—"

"Anna!" He rushed over to where she floated. "Anna, I need you to tell me what happened before you died." His lungs felt like they were full of lead.

This seemed to surprise Anna more than Kurt thought it would. "Wha-Why?"

He took in a shaky breath. "Anna, I don't mean to alarm you, but if I don't figure out who killed you soon, I-" Kurt choked on the air in his throat. "I might end up like you."

Anna's face froze for a moment, before a look of understanding took over. She nodded her head and then focused her gaze of the floor.

"Kurt…there are some...things I didn't tell you." Pause. "Things…that happened before I died…"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Bless your soul and your cow for staying with this story.<strong>_

_**The next chapter will be another flashback BUT AN IMPORTANT ONE. LIKE, THIS WILL FUCK WITH YOUR BRAIN SO BADLY.**_

_**...I'm sorry.**_

_**Also, if you just skipped the long ass author note at the top, please go and read it. It actually is kind of important. For me. Derp. :/**_


	17. Chapter 16: Interlude III

_**Sorry, this was suppose to be updated last night, but I finished it this morning so yay!**_

_**Can't really say anything now because I'm going out today to get my hair cut! It's more of a yearly thing, so it is a big deal. I'll post a picture of me with my new do once I get back.**_

_**And now, I figure out what happened before Anna died...**_

* * *

><p>Both of the girls had been stuck in the hall since they were let out of class. It's not because they can't leave, because they can, but they had had to pull their forces together to sit down and study hard. Anna is still stuck on math and Christina, as always, is having her on-going battle with her history textbook, fighting to keep the dates and locations inside her head. She's good at everything else, but history just has some major issues with her.<p>

Anna sighs loudly next to her before resting her head in her book. She groans and says, "Chrissy, why is math so hard?"

Christina sighs as well, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her face in the palm of her hand. "It's only hard because you think it's so hard. It's actually quite easy once you learn all of the equations."

The other girl looked up quickly, her lips pursed and her eyes glaring at Christina. "Oh, look who's talking. You can't remember a darn thing about Napoleon or who he battled at Waterloo."

"I know it was a duke! Duke, duke of-of-"

"Duke of Wellington."

"Right, him!"

Anna giggles at her friend, leaning back in her chair and looking out the window. The sky outside the window is already turning a light pink, and the sun is a dark red sphere, slowly descending on them.

"It's getting late." Anna mumbles under her breath.

"What?" Christina says, her head popping up from where it had returned back to her book. Anna looks at her, amused. Christina looks flustered, her hair pulled back into a bun and her whole uniform completely off kilter.

"Nothing." Anna answers. She looks down at her book, which has been on the same page for about an hour. She sighs, and then flips the book closed. Christina looks back over when she hears the smack of the cover closing.

"What are you doing? You know you have to get this done today. Our exams are tomorrow." She says, tapping Anna's arm and then the book, trying to draw some connection between them. Anna follows the motion of Christina's fingers, pausing at the book and groaning.

"_Chrissy_," she whines. "we've both been studying for hours now. Can't we take one tiny break?" She wobbles her head around like she can't be bothered to actually use her neck muscles, and gives Christina the most pathetic puppy dog look that she's ever seen. But, because it's Anna, and because she has a valid point, she gives in. "Fine."

Anna makes a sound of approval and then starts to push all the books to the other side of the small table, stacking them into piles. Christina sighs and runs her fingers over her temple, brushing hair that had fallen back into place. She shoves her own book towards the pile.

"Now," Anna says, crossing her legs at the knee and turning in her chair to face Christina, "to get down to some real business. Tell me how you and Everett have been."

Christina stiffens at her words, relaxing after a few seconds later. "Oh, um, well he, uh, he asked me if I…"

Anna raises a single brow. "What?"

She blushes before saying, "he asked to go steady with me." Her voice goes all high-pitched at the end, but she doesn't really care because she's allowed to be happy, shouldn't she?

Christina had thought earlier that when she did tell Anna that the other girl would have some sort of over-exaggerated reaction like any other girl would. But she doesn't. Anna is stone-cold in her seat, her face drawn in a thoughtful expression.

"Anne?" Anna doesn't look at her for a few minutes and the tension between them is starting to suffocate her. "Anna?" She says, hoping to get some sort of reaction.

Finally, Anna moves. She returns back to the book she had pushed away a few minutes ago and opens it back up to the page that she had been stuck on. She still doesn't say anything though.

"Anna," Christina places her hand in the crease of Anna's elbow, "what's wrong?" The other girl shakes her hand off, replying, "Nothing."

Christina knows Anna better than anyway, and she knows when 'nothing' means 'something'. "Anna, please, what's bothering you?"

Anna bites the inside of her cheek, holding off saying the words for as long as she can until her self-conscience gives out. Sighing, she says, "Nothing, I just think that…maybe, you and Everett are moving a little too fast."

Christina expects some half-hearted joke right after it, but nothing comes, and it feels like a punch to the chest. "W-what?"

Anna is looking right at her now, her eyes wide as she stares into Christina. "Maybe you should wait until school lets out. Our maybe even longer! I just don't think you're ready to be in a serious relationship."

She's sure she has some sort of stupidly surprised expression on her face, and that's mostly because she can't believe the words coming out of Anna's mouth. Christina makes little half-hearted attempts at saying something, but all that comes out are squeaky sounds.

Her brain catches up with her though and she says, "Are you being serious right now?"

"Perfectly serious, Christina."

And that's when Christina knows that she's being serious because Anna never uses her full name when she doesn't have to. All the things that Anna are saying don't make sense though, they're not what Anna would say, at least, not Christina face, she hopes. She starts to think up reasons why Anna would be saying these things and the first that pops up is highly irrational but it's the first that pops out of her mouth.

"Are you jealous?"

This seems to shock Anna more than it shocks Christina, Anna's eyes fly open and she immediately sits straight up. "W-what?"

Anna's whole reaction is enough for her to pursue more. "You're jealous of me and Everett?"

She gasps. "Jealous? Why would I ever be jealous of you two?"

"You want what we have; you want to have a relationship just like ours-"

"Mighty fine relationship you have! All he ever does is talk about himself!"

"At least he wants to talk to me! I don't see any boys coming up to you, asking for a date!"

"That's because all the boys here are idiots!" Anna says, standing up from her chair. Christina jumps up from hers too, and now they're both in a stand-off, each girl on opposite sides of the small table, fingernails digging into the hardwood.

"Or maybe it's because you think you're just the best thing around!"

"You know I don't think that way!"

"Oh, come on! Even Everett knows that you do!"

"Everett's an idiot, why do you even listen to him?!"

"Because I love him!"

"Well, I love you more!"

Dead silent. Going from shrill yelling to nothing has left both their ears ringing. Christina's blue eyes are blown up my shock, while Anna's are running on adrenaline.

Christina breaks the silence first. "Wha-"

But she's cut off quickly when Anna leans forward across the table and quiets her with a kiss. Christina doesn't know what to do. What exactly do you do when you're best friend, who happens to be another girl, just suddenly ups and kisses you? She can't think of any other logical reaction than to push Anna away.

The other girl stumbles backwards and Christina hurries to collect her things and leave. She doesn't understand what's going on, and she hates not understanding things.

"Ch-chrissy, wait-"

"No, Anna, I can't." She doesn't bother making eye contact because she knows that the other girl must be starting to cry by the way her voice is shaking. Christina stuffs all the books that belong to her into her bag and turns to leave.

"Christina, _please_." Anna pleads.

She stops, but doesn't look back. "I just-I don't understand…"

"Christina, I love you. I've loved for as long as we have been friends."

Christina shakes her head as she feels hot tears rolling down her face. "No, no…"

"Chrissy." She hears Anna start to walk towards her. "Don't!" The footsteps stop.

Anna doesn't say anything else, so Christina starts talking. "Anna, you're my friend, and I care about you, but…It's wrong; homosexuality is a sin, you know that."

She can hear a few sniffles. "I…I don't care about what the Bible says. I love _you_."

Christina takes in a deep breath. "May-maybe you're just…confused. Maybe, you've been spending too much time with me-"

"No-"

"Maybe, we just need to spend some time apart, so you can get your head back on straight."

"Christina…"

Finally, Christina turns around to look at Anna. The girl looks like she can break at any moment. Her face is red and there are clear paths running down her cheeks. She can't stop crying or sniffling and it makes it harder for her to say, "please, don't go."

Christina blinks away a few tears and says, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Chrissy!" But it's too late, Christina is already walking out of the hall and shutting the door. She doesn't know who to hate more; Anna or herself.

The second the door closes, Anna falls to the floor, sobbing and clutching her sides. She had knew that there was no way for her and Christina to be together, but she had never thought that rejection could hurt so badly. She tries to calm herself, taking in deep breaths and staring at the titles floor. She can't lose her best friend; she could lose a lover and not shed a single tear, but the thought of losing Christina forever…it makes her want to vomit.

She struggles to stand up, her whole body wrecked from sobbing, but she manages to stand up and starts to walk to the door. She can find and Christina and tell her it was all a mistake; that it didn't mean anything and that she was just hyped up on emotion; that she and Everett are perfect for each other.

She stumbles her way out of the North corridor and into the cold black night. All the lamp posts are on and they cast orange shadows that go everywhere except for where you want them. As soon as she makes it down the steps of the entrance she starts to call out Christina's name.

"Christina! Christina!" She figures that the other girl can't be too far ahead of her. She turns the corner, hoping to see Christina in the distance.

Before she can look though, someone grabs her from behind. Her throat hurts too much from the sobbing, so screaming isn't the first instinct. The person presses a cloth to her mouth and brings something sharp and shiny to her neck.

_Oh no…_

She starts to kick and claw at the person's arms, but whatever is on the cloth is starting to take effect on her. The knife starts to dig into her throat. She tries to stop it, but the darkness is starting to take over and she tries valiantly to reach past the corner and see if anyone is there, anyone who can stop them.

As her blood start to drain down her neck, she keeps trying to take steps, keeps trying if she can see someone in the distance.

_Christina, Christina…_

* * *

><p><em><strong>BOOM.<strong>  
><em>

_**(I'm sorry.)**_


	18. Chapter 17

**_Yay, another update! As I'm looking at my notes for LNTD, I'm figuring it's got another 2 chapters and then and the epilogue and then it will be done. And I shall both cry and rejoice._**

**_I would like to give a shot out to Lurida who has become my first mate on the Chrisanna ship, which started sinking about three sentences after it was introduced._**

* * *

><p>Kurt was shocked as he watched Anna float limply in the air, head hung low. He allowed a single tear to leave his eye before he blinked the rest away and wiped away the warm, wet trail on his cheek.<p>

"Anna, I'm so sorry." He took a step forward and it was the first time that he wished that Anna was really there, that he could touch her and hug her. The ghost girl wrapped her arms around herself and lowered herself closer to the floor.

He knew that Anna was hurting now, reminiscing in not only her death, but the rejection of love as well. Kurt wanted to comfort her but now was not the time. If he wanted to save her from hurting anymore, he would have to save himself first. "Anna, I know you're in pain now but…" He trailed off, unable to come up with a good way to ask her.

"Anna, is there any way that Christina could have…" He stopped when he saw Anna raise her head and her eyes narrow at him.

"Are you suggesting that _Christina _is the one who killed me?" She seethed. Kurt had been afraid of asking her this but he knew that would push them towards _some _direction. "Anna, look-"

"No, _you_ look," she flew closer until she was nearly an inch away from Kurt's face. "How dare you even consider Christina as my killer! She was, is, and will always be, my dearest friend and, even more so, the love of my life, and while she will never return my feelings, I don't think that that's cause for killing someone!"

Kurt was taken aback by Anna's approach and he immediately cursed himself. How could he even think that Christina would kill her after that story? That would be like Blaine killing him. Speaking of Blaine, he had to go find him, and soon. Kurt wasn't going to back down, but he didn't want Blaine anywhere in this mess.

Kurt held his hands up in defense and backed away from her. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Anna. I should've known not to think that Christina would." This seemed to calm her down a bit and she backed off, wrapping her arms around herself again, but she kept her eyes narrowed at Kurt.

He ran his hand over his temple, sighing from the pressure. "Anna, I need to go and find Blaine. If I call you, please come as soon as you can."

Anna keeps her eyes narrowed for a seconds before softening them and sighing, nodding her head. "Okay, Be safe."

Kurt tightened his coat around him before he walked out the door. The note was left on his desk, folded and wrinkled.

*w* *w* *w*

_Okay, it's almost been half an hour. Hummel is gone. Or, he _should_ be gone. God knows he would be stupid enough to stay._

_I might as well start the walk around. I know he walked to his dorm room, so I should be able to do a walk around of the outskirts of the campus…maybe I should cut through the center. Yeah, that makes more sense._

_Shit, it's getting cold. Why is it so cold, it's April-oh. I forgot…the…the gun. It's cold, too. I suppose that makes sense._

…

_It's kind of…strange…_

_Wait, what was that?_

…_I think…Blaine?_

_What the hell is he still doing here?! He was suppose to leave with everyone else!_

_Oh, fuck. Oh fuck! I don't want to hurt him, damn it. That's the last thing on my mind._

_Wait…I could use him to my advantage, to draw out Hummel…_

_I'm sorry, Blaine._

*w* *w* *w*

Kurt trotted down the steps of the dorm house. The air smacked him in the face, all the warmth from the inside fleeting away. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and pressed the power button, watching the screen light up. He had set it to silent before the competition that day so that it wouldn't interrupt any performances. Though, that didn't exactly stop him from texting New Directions that day with little anecdotes about things that he saw backstage and in-between songs.

Blaine had texted him a few minutes before, telling him that he had just left the library. He sent him a quick message saying he would meet with him soon. In reality, he would just tell Blaine to go home with no questions. Kurt knew that Blaine would ask him why, wouldn't stop asking until Blaine got his answer. But he couldn't let him know; if he did, Blaine would refuse to leave his side. It was one of those qualities that made Kurt love and hate Blaine.

He had just started walking through the trail when he heard a loud scream that was cut off abruptly. It made a chill run through his whole body, before he started running towards the direction the sound came from. That scream, that voice…it was Blaine!

He had sounded in pain, and that only spurred Kurt on to run faster. His lungs started to burn after a few minutes of unsuccessful searching. Finally, he took his phone out again and dialed 911. It rung once before a women's voice came on the other side of the line.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"I don't know what's going on, but I heard a scream and I know there's a student who's dangerous on campus right now-"

"Sir, calm down. Tell me where you are."

"I'm at Dalton Academy. In Westerville. Hurry, please, I think someone's hurt!"

"Police and paramedics will be out there as soon as possible. Please stay on the phone with me."

"Okay, okay." He breathed out. Kurt heard some shuffling on the other line and figured it was the women typing something out.

"Okay. Sir, can you please tell me your-" Suddenly the line was cut without any warning. He pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at the now dark screen. The phone was dead. Was this some kind of sick joke by the universe? The only time the phone died during important times was in horror movies and, god damn it, his life was not a fucking movie so why did it have to act that way?!

"Shit, shit, _shit_." He muttered, shoving the phone back in his pocket. He needed to calm down; he needed to start thinking rationally. The women had said that the police would be on their way soon. But how soon would that be? He was stuck in the jungle that made up Dalton's main campus with an injured Blaine that was most likely being held captive by a could-be murderer.

Kurt can't freak out, can't start hyperventilating, can't start making sarcastic comments to ease the nauseous feelings that stew in the pit of his stomach. Normally, there's someone else who's able to manage the situation, and lately, that's been Blaine, except for the ghost thing. But Blaine's…hurt, somewhere off where Kurt can't find him and now it's up to Kurt to save him.

He started up again, running down trails and calling out Blaine's name, not caring if the person who was looking for him heard. His throat ached and his feet burned every time he took a heavy step forward. He thought up his own visual map of the campus and figured that the scream had been near the single stone fountain they had. He ran until he saw the ivy wall that curved along the side of the fountain.

"Blaine!" He called out, and this time, in return, he heard a low groan come from the other side of the ivy fence. Kurt rushed to the end and turned quickly, his eyes immediately searching for any form. They made contact with a large form that was lying in the space between the fence and the fountain, sprawled out on the red bricks.

"Blaine!" He rushed over, kneeling down to check the boy. His eyes were closed, and there was blood trickling down the right side of his forehead. As far as Kurt could tell with the surrounding light, there was also a large bruise forming on the same side as the cut. Kurt checked his pulse on his neck and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt Blaine's heartbeat. He was breathing as well and that reassured Kurt enough that Blaine would be fine, a little beat up, but fine.

Blaine groaned again when Kurt ran his fingers gently over his hairline, tip-toeing over the cut. His eyelids fluttered open and his hazel eyes drifted over to Kurt. His mouth turned into a dopey grin and he weakly reached a hand out towards Kurt.

He almost laughed at how happy Blaine looked, considering he was injured and was probably very confused. "Oh my God, Blaine, stop smiling." Kurt said, although he giggled his way through most of it. "You're hurt, now is not the time to smile." He stopped giggling when he remembered why Blaine was injured.

Blaine kept smiling at him though. He reached a shaky hand out and placed it against Kurt's cold cheek.

"K-Kurt," he said, pausing to wet his lips, "I-"

"Shh, not now," Kurt covered his hand over Blaine's. "The ambulance and police are going to be here soon." _I hope so._

"Come on, let me help you up." He was careful with Blaine, wrapping his arms around the boy and helping him up off the ground. "Can you walk?" He asked. It was answered after he let go of Blaine for a few seconds and he tried to take a wobbly step forward and nearly fell on his face. Kurt wrapped his arm around Blaine's shoulders and leaned most of the boy on his body as he carefully walked him over to the edge of the fountain, sitting him down on the small, concrete wall.

Blaine swayed for a few seconds but placed his hands firmly down on the edge of the wall and leveled himself. Kurt sat down beside him, just glad that Blaine was safe now.

"Kurt," Blaine said, after a few minutes of shaky breathing. "I need to tell you something."

"What is it, Blaine?"

He took a moment. "Kurt, I…there's a…God, I didn't want to do it this way."

Kurt rubbed his hand gently over his shoulder blade. "Do what?"

He finally managed to look at Kurt. His eyes were shining with…something, Kurt wasn't sure what, but it made his heart beat quicker in his chest. "Kurt, I-"

He was cut off by the crunch of a twig being stepped on and Kurt could not have turned his around faster without snapping his neck. Blaine must have sawn whoever it was first because it took in a sharp breath and backed away. "Kurt-"

"No, Blaine, this is my fight." He didn't turn back around. Kurt stood up and walked towards where the shadow moved between the trees and ivy wall.

"I'm surprised you stayed." The person said, before he stepped out of the dark and into the dim light.

Kurt gasped before narrowing his eyes. "I should have known it would be you."

"Yes," Thad said, "you should have."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Kudos for all the people who suspected it was Thad. You all receive a virtual hug!<strong>_


	19. Chapter 18

_**Well, I feel embarrassed. I wanted to finish this story by birthday which, coincidentally, was 3 days ago. Hopefully, this will be finished before next week and I can get started on some other stuff.  
><strong>_

_**Started school. So, blergh. Blergh school and all the homework I've gotten from my college classes.**_

_**One more chapter and then and epilogue. Boop.**_

* * *

><p>"You just couldn't stay out of it, could you Hummel?" Thad slowly walked around him, Kurt mimicking his stance. The gun shined in his hand and it made Kurt feel like ice in his veins. His eyes kept flicking between the weapon and Thad's stone-cold face. Blaine, who had not made a sound since Thad revealed himself, sat still on the edge of the fountain.<p>

"I knew you were a dick, but I didn't think you were an evil one." Kurt said.

Thad laughed and Kurt saw his fingers flew around the handle of the gun. He swallowed. His dad had a gun at home, but it was more for safety precautions rather than for actual use. He had never seen his dad use it though, only ever threatened someone with the idea of it.

Suddenly, Thad stopped and spun to directly face Kurt. "Why couldn't you just leave? Why did you stay?" He said harshly.

"Because, _Thad_, Anna deserves to know how she died! Kurt shouted, risking it and taking a few steps forward. "She's going to be stuck here forever if she never finds out how she died! No one deserves that kind of torture!"

"Not with the price that _I_ pay for it." Thad replied. "Not for what my family has to give up for it! Besides," his brows drew, "she _deserved it_."

That made Kurt snap. He rushed forward towards Thad, still wary of the gun in his hand. The other boy seemed to no want to use it for its intended purpose. He used as more of a club, swinging it back and forth so Kurt had to keep his distance. Kurt saw an opening and dove, tackling Thad down. The gun went skittering across the pavement. Thad rolled them over and started throwing punches towards Kurt's face, but he was prepared. He had been beat up too many times to not have learned he few things. He held his arms up until Thad paused for just a second and Kurt took the opportunity to kick Thad off him.

He saw out of the corner of his eye that Blaine had tried to stand up to get the gun but had fallen down, out of breath and blood still dripping down his temple. Kurt tried to punch Thad, but the other boy was quick and dodged his hits before trying to punch Kurt again. Kurt kicked and threw punches and fought as hard as he could, rolling around on the dirty concrete, getting cuts and bruises over his arms and face.

"Will you just hold still?!" Thad growled and aimed a punch towards Kurt's face.

He was distracted, however, when Blaine called out, "Thad, stop!"

"Blaine, stay out of this!" They both said at the same moment before returning to their fight. Kurt managed to land a punch to Thad's stomach and the boy gasped for air, falling to the side. Kurt jumped to his feet and ran for the gun, but fell down roughly just as he had gained his footing. He looked back to see that Thad had grabbed his ankle. Thad pulled Kurt towards him and Kurt gasped, feeling Thad's hands crawling up his leg. He kicked his hand away and heard him curse as he started to crawl across. His knees and elbows scratched against the pavement, little flares of pain echoing in his body.

Kurt could hear Blaine shouting at them to stop, begging them, but it was all in vain. Kurt would not stop until Thad would.

He felt a hand wrap around his knee and then he was being flipped over and Thad was on top of him, hold his hands down. "Stay down you little jerk!" He snapped at Kurt before rushing to crawl over to him to get to the gun. He knew at that moment that he needed _some_ help. Blaine was a bit useless at the moment, but Kurt had one last trick in his pocket.

"Anna!"

Thad froze in his eager race to get to the gun. He turned around just as Kurt flipped over and lifted himself off the ground. "What?"

"Anna!" Kurt called again, finally standing up. He wiped the mix of grime and blood off his forehead and cheeks, watching as Thad's face changed to horror.

"No! Stop!" Thad was stuck in a standstill; he didn't know whether to attack Kurt or get the gun first.

"Anna!" Kurt called for the third time and that seemed like enough incentive for Thad to run over and clamp his hand over the other boy's mouth. But the third yell had done the trick. There was a rush in the air and then everything was still, silent. Thad's eyes darted in every direction except right behind, where Kurt saw the tell-tale shimmer in the air.

Thad caught his eyes and spun around and screamed his head off. It left Kurt's ears ringing. _And I thought I had a shrill scream._

Thad scrambled over to where the gun was, his eyes fighting to find it in the dark. He gripped the gun firmly in his hand and, except of pointing it towards Kurt, he pointed it in Anna's direction. Kurt was a bit confused but he figured that, by Thad's reaction, he didn't take too lightly to ghosts.

"What the hell, Hummel?!"

Kurt smirked. He had found Thad's weakness.

Anna turned to Kurt, hands neatly folded behind her back. "Kurt…what's going on?"

Kurt opened his mouth to explain but he stopped. How _did_ you explain a situation like this? He was covered in dirt, blood, and bruises; Thad, who Anna had never even met, held a gun pointed at her; Blaine, _still_ injured, the blood mixing with the gel in his hair and god, where the hell were the fucking police?

"Anna…that's Thad. He's trying to kill me." He said in the calmest voice he could muster.

Anna's mouth dropped. "W-what?! What do you mean-Kill you?!"

"Anna it's-"

"Shut up, Hummel, _shut up_." Thad's hands trembled, his fingers fidgeting around the handle. He started to switch between pointing the gun at Kurt and Anna. Kurt could see sweat starting to drip down Thad's brow. Kurt had thought that Blaine's reaction had been bad, Rachel's reaction even worse, but neither of those compared to how Thad was acting. The boy was completely losing it.

"Thad," Blaine said, his voice even and calm. "Please, just put the gun down." He breathed out heavily, feeling a bit light-headed from the blood loss. "You don't need to do this. We can help you-"

"Help me?! _Help me?!_" Thad shouted at him, staying in his spot. The gun only lowered an inch or so due to his distraction. Every time light gleamed on the side of the gun, another lump formed in Kurt's throat. "It's you that needs the help! Blaine, it's a ghost! A freak of nature! A supernatural anomaly! And you go ahead and befriend? And you think _I need help?!_"

It looked like Thad was having a hard time aiming his gun anywhere. His general instinct was to aim at Anna, but Kurt hoped that it never occurred to him that Anna was already dead and therefore, the gun was useless.

"Thad," Kurt spoke up, "I understand that you don't like me that much-"

"Oh, shut up! You're why we're all here anyway!"

"May I jump in on this?" Anna said. Kurt could tell by her tone that she was getting a bit temperamental. Kurt and Blaine had no problems with Anna entering the, albeit mostly just Thad screaming at them, conversation.

She cleared her throat. "Now, Thad-"

"Shut up-!"

"No, _you_ shut up." She growled out. "You are taking this much farther than necessary. You have a _gun_, Thad. A gun! You think this some kind of joke? You are thinking _killing_ someone. Killing…" She trailed off. She brought her hands out in front of her and looked down at them, at the see-through skin. "You have no idea what you would be doing." Her voice sounded broken. Kurt felt like someone had just directly punched him in the chest.

Thad's hands shook. He had now directed his aim back to his original target, Kurt. "Y-you shut up! Just shut the fuck up!" He took a miniscule step back.

Kurt countered his movement and took a step forward. "Do you think you're brave, Thad?" He didn't yell it or say it angrily, just leveled.

"Don't antagonize me Hummel."

Kurt didn't take the warning signs. "If you think you're so brave, then shoot me."

Anna and Blaine's intermingling cries of "What?!" and "No!" echoed around the confined area. Kurt and Thad's eyes met. There was no going back now.

"Hummel…" Thad spit his name out like it was poison.

"Come on, go ahead and shoot me."

Blaine clambered off the ground and woozily stood up. "Kurt, Kurt, stop!-"

"Blaine, no." It wasn't Kurt who said it, but Anna. "Kurt's smart. He knows what he's doing."

"But-"

Anna shushed him and faded. Kurt knew she was still there, but having her be invisible made it easier for her to rescue him if needed. Blaine nodded and stepped back until his knees hit the edge of the fountain and he clumsily fell into a sitting position.

Kurt looked directly at Thad. "Well?"

"Do you want to die?!" Thad yelled at him, the barrel of the gun aim right at his head. Thad was about 15 feet away from him, but Kurt had no doubt that he could make a clean shot.

Kurt steeled his face, making sure to not let any sort of emotion visible. "No," he said, "I just think that you don't have the guts to shoot me." The shock on Thad's face prompted Kurt to continue. "You didn't have to guts to even talk to me face-to-face, and you expect me to think that you have the audacity to shoot me, right here and right now?"

"I'll do it! I swear to god, I'll do it Hummel!"

"Then do it." Kurt had no idea what he was doing. He thought he could psychologically mess with Thad, but who knew? The boy could snap and shot him, kill him with a single bullet and he'd be gone. But he could always be right. And now he was testing it.

Thad aimed the gun and Kurt could see in the flooding darkness a finger wrapped lightly around the trigger. He looked his eyes with Thad and waited. Waited to see if Thad would pull the trigger and last thing he would ever hear would be the ringing in his ear as the bullet drove its way into his body.

He waited to see if he would die.

Thad gasped for air and collapsed on the ground. He threw the gun from himself and started hyperventilating. "I-I can't. God, I just _fucking can't_."

Kurt rushed over and grabbed the gun, throwing it into the bushes before rushing over to Blaine. It was then, with everything calm and silent once more, that Kurt could hear the small sound of sirens heading towards the school.

*w* *w* *w*

Anna had stayed with them until the police and paramedics had made their way through the maze of paths that covered the campus. Thad had been sent into some sort of shock, clutching his arms to himself. Anna disappeared when they heard the police talking and Kurt shouted until they found him. Kurt was covered in dirt and Blaine had finally stopped bleeding.

The paramedics came and took them to the ambulance while the police placed Thad in the back of the squad car. They rolled out the yellow caution tape and started the usual ritual of surveying the crime scene.

Blaine was sitting on the edge of the back of the ambulance; the paramedics done with cleaning the blood off his face and had placed a small bandage over the cut. They had given each boy a blanket to wrap around themselves and some coffee to comfort them. Kurt stood to his side, looking at the ground mostly. Everything had happened so fast and he didn't know what to do with Blaine now. So many feeling had bubbled up to the surface when he had thought of losing Blaine. The moments between the scream and finding Blaine alive were the most frightful minutes of his life. He just couldn't imagine things without Blaine.

"Kurt." He looked up to see Blaine staring at him with the same intense eyes he had had before Thad had shown up at the fountain. "I was going to tell you something before and now that we have the time…"

Kurt swallowed the lump in his throat. "Actually, Blaine, I have something to tell you to."

"Okay, but…after this. It's really important, and I've been meaning to tell you for a while but things kept popping up and Anna was always around and then _this_ happened and I just," he paused, "I was so worried that he _was_ going to shoot you and that scared the hell out of me and Kurt-"

Kurt finally decided to shut Blaine up and pressed their lips together. The last of Blaine's words came out muffled before he realized what was going on and kissed Kurt back. He gripped Blaine's face in his hands, making sure to keep in mind his bruise and cut. It lasted for less than a minute and Kurt pulled back, they were both breathless. Blaine nervously chuckled and wrapped the blanket around him tightly.

"Um, wow." Blaine mumbled, a blush spreading over his checks and to the tips of his ears. Kurt was nearly in the same boat. He could feel the heat spread from his face down his neck.

"Yeah." Kurt sighed. He flicked his tongue out and tasted Blaine. The blush deepened. He looked down at Blaine's hands, wrapped up in the scratchy, dull blanket. Kurt reached his hand out and unraveled the fabric from his hand before threading his fingers with Blaine.

"So, do you want to go out on a date?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Recently I have become obsessed with two fandoms that equal one amazing crossover: ParaPines. It's Gravity Falls and ParaNorman and oh my god it's so cute and adorable and makes me feel all the feels. <strong>_


	20. Chapter 19

_**Well, shit. That's all I have to say. As I said before, it's my senior highschool year and I have some intense college classes, such as english 101, in which we have already written 4 papers.**_

_**Some news:**_

_**GOT A JOB**_

_**IN A SCHOOL PLAY**_

_**PROBABLY GETTING A CAR FOR $500**_

_**STILL SINGLE AS FUCK**_

_**WOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

_**Gonna start writing my book soon. I'm gonna start bringing my laptop to school too cause then I can do my english 101 stuff sooner and work on my writing whenever I have the chance**_

_**ONLY THE EPILOGUE NOW GUYS. *SOBS***_

* * *

><p>Burt Hummel could not have driven faster to Westerville if he had had the ability to drive at the speed of light. Kurt understood that his father was upset, but driving to pick up his slightly beat up son is no excuse to drive twice the speed limit and risk crashing. The small funeral for Pavarotti was canceled as Burt would not take his eye off his son long enough for him to actually leave the house. Kurt and Blaine's date (the thought of which made Kurt squeal uncontrollably) had been pushed back to next week, but that didn't stop them from texting each other every moment of the two days.<p>

Kurt was not an expert flirter; that was a fact. But it was like Blaine was able to bring that side out of him.

After dinner on Sunday night, he showered, did his moisturizing routine, and crawled into bed after putting on a soft, worn t-shirt and an old pair of sweatpants. He swiped his phone off the side table and pressed the power button, seeing that Blaine hadn't sent him a text since they had last texted before Kurt went off to eat.

He opened up his inbox and looked at the last messages from hours ago.

_Seriously, though. I have to go to dinner :) -K_

_Kuuuuuuurt :( -B_

_Blaaaaaaaaine ;) -K_

_fine but text me back as soon as u can :D -B_

_K xox -K_

_Xoxoxo ;) -B_

During the past two days, when he knew Blaine was away from the phone or sleeping, he liked to look back at the past conversations they'd had. It made the butterflies in his stomach flutter each time his eyes scanned over the word _cute_, _adorable_, _amazing_, compliments flying back and forth between the each of them. He just couldn't get enough of it. He wasn't sure if he ever would.

He typed out a quick message to Blaine.

_Hey :) -K_

Kurt was sure there were flirtier things to say, but as said before, he wasn't much of a flirt. While he waited for Blaine to respond, he idly picked at the seams of his duvet, running his fingers lightly over the fabric. He didn't have to wait long though, his phone buzzing in his palm and lighting up, alerting him that he had a new message.

_hey ;) -B_

Kurt chuckled under his breath. Even if Blaine had _slightly_ more experience than him in the dating department, they were still in the same boat in flirtatious texting.

_Soooooo I'm going to see you tomorrow :) -K_

_yes i know becuz I get 2 see u 2 ;) -B_

Kurt was half way through his reply when another text from Blaine came in. If it was any other person, he would have been slightly upset, but, well, it was Blaine.

_i cant wait 2 kiss u again -B_

Kurt felt his face heat up and he was glad that no one was around to see it. Though it had been two days ago, he couldn't shake the feeling of having Blaine kissing him back. He didn't know how he was going to get through the following school day without getting distracted by Blaine. But the more he thought about the next day, the more anxious he got. Kurt could picture them both in uniform walking down the hall, holding hands. Quick pecks on the cheek (or lips, if Kurt was feeling bold enough) when they spilt to go to different classes. He brain wandered for a few minutes, envisioning scenarios of him and Blaine hiding in the corners of Dalton, sneaking quick kisses and whispering secrets into each other's ears.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the buzzing of his phone.

_u still there? -B_

_Sorry. Thinking. Where were we? -K_

_me wanting to kiss u :) what were u thinking about? -B_

_Same thing as you ;) -K_

Kurt smiled coyly to himself. Maybe he was getting the hang of this flirting thing after all.

*w* *w* *w*

Monday morning, while normally considered the epitome of hell for Kurt, was the most exciting morning Kurt had had in his 17 years. He woke up early, cleaned his face and immaculately styled his hair, and pulled on his uniform. His dad was still hesitant on letting him return back to school, but after a dozen calls to the school, about a half of them including Burt yelling into the other end of the phone, he was satisfied enough to allow his son to return to Dalton. Kurt said goodbye to his dad and made the hour long drive to the Lima Bean where he was going to meet Blaine.

The bell above the door rang when he pushed it open. There weren't that many people, mostly just a few business people and the normal mill of people who came in for their morning coffee. Blaine immediately caught his eye; it wasn't that hard, since he was the only person in the shop besides Kurt wearing a navy blazer with red piping. Blaine seemed to notice him as well. His face broke into a wide grin when their eyes met and Kurt smiled back. He walked through the maze of tables until he made it to the normal table where he and Blaine sat. They didn't say anything as Kurt sat down and reached across the table to grab the coffee that Blaine had bought him. They didn't need to say anything; the constant motion of making eye contact and then looking away, blushing, was enough for them.

Kurt could see Blaine's fingers twitch on the table from the corner of his eye. He knew Blaine wanted to grab his hand, hold it and thread their fingers together. But there were also people around, people who may not take to kindly to two boys holding hands. He breathed out a silent sigh. Sometimes he really hated living in Ohio.

"So, um…" Blaine finally said, first looking up at Kurt, but then turning his head when they made eye contact. "W-when," he paused, clearing his throat, "when are we going to bury Pavarotti?"

Kurt had thought he was going to ask about their date, or about holding hands, or _kissing_, but he realized that they actually did have to talk about this.

"Well, this weekend I guess? We can't really do it during school, so Saturday would be great."

"And then, could we…?"

Kurt leaned in a bit, waiting for Blaine to continue. "Could we go out on our…date?"

Blaine blushed and Kurt wasn't far behind. This was all so new to him, to both of them, and Kurt could feel the rush of adrenaline buzz through his body. He'd always wanted a relationship, craved the affections of someone who wasn't his father or a girlfriend. But now everything that was happening made him itch in anticipation.

"S-sure." Kurt stuttered, his face burning. "I-I mean, if you still want to?"

Blaine blinked. "Of course, I still want to."

Kurt saw Blaine shift his arm under the table. Blaine tapped his fingers under the table, trying to get Kurt's attention. Kurt was confused at first, wondering what Blaine was doing, but Blaine's insistent tapings finally made him delve his hand under the table. Blaine's fingers found his first and threaded them together. The length of the table made them have to press their tops of their hands to the underside of the table. The wood was rough and cut into their skin but they didn't really care.

Kurt sighed happily and Blaine smiled when he heard the sound. They had been through hell and back in less than a week. But they would be okay. Everything would be okay.

*w* *w* *w*

A few days pasted and thepractical _riot_ after the announcement that Kurt and Blaine are dating had finally died down. Classes had just ended for the day and Kurt and Blaine had resigned to just lying around in the common room of their dorm house. Both boys had shed their jackets and were idly flipped through their reading assignments, ignoring whatever they said and focusing more on each other.

Kurt was about to take the chance and lean in for a quick kiss when Mr. Harrington walked in. Kurt scrambled to get to an appropriate distance from Blaine as the dorm advisor watched them with an amused look.

"Boys, you have a visitor."

Kurt and Blaine shared a look. Who would visit them? All of their close family was in driving distance and could call them easily.

"She's waiting for you in the lobby." Mr. Harrington said before walking out.

They shared another look before standing up, straightening their clothes, and walked into the lobby.

An old woman was standing there, waiting for them. She was short, no taller than Rachel Berry, and was hunched over a wooden cane that seemed to be the only thing keeping her upright. She wore a floral sundress and orthopedic shoes. Her face beamed when she saw the two boys walking towards her.

"Are you boys Kurt and Blaine?" She said in a sweet voice.

"Yeah," Kurt said, "I'm Kurt and this is Blaine." He motioned to the boy next to him, and they momentarily shared a puzzled look. Neither of them had a clue who the old woman was, but she smiled at them as if they were her own grandchildren.

"I'm Thad's grandmother, Christina O'Malley? Perhaps you've heard of me?"

Kurt felt his eyes widen. How could he not figure it out? Of course this was Christina; the Christina they had listened to Anna rant on and on about for hours. "O-oh," Blaine stuttered. "You're-of course." He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "We-we're sorry."

Christina frowned, her barely-there eyebrows furrowing. "What do you mean, son?"

"Your grandson, we-he's in juvie right now, because of us." Blaine reasoned. Blaine didn't even sound sure of what he was saying.

The woman sighed. "Yes, Thad…My grandson had a bit of a mental breakdown after he was arrested. My daughter and son-in-law are having a fit trying to get him out." She chuckled and it sounded just like Anna had described it.

"Why are you here then?" Kurt asked, curiously. "If not to scold us for putting a family member in juvenile detention."

Her face turned solemn for a moment, as if she was remembering something. "There was something Thad said to me…before they took him away…"

She took in a hazy breath and then coughed harshly, gripping her cane to balance herself. Kurt and Blaine stepped closer, arms stretched out but she waved them off. Her coughing died down eventually and she cleared her throat, speaking again. "He said something about a ghost? A long lost friend of mine?"

Kurt paled. He wasn't sure if he was ready for where this conversation was going. He wanted to say that they had no idea what she was talking about; wanted to just keep Anna a secret between him and Blaine forever.

But that would be pointless. He had made a promise to save Anna from an eternity of roaming Dalton, and he was sure as hell going to keep it.

Kurt opened his mouth to speak, but Blaine beat him to the punch.

"Will you come somewhere with us? Just...I think it would be better if we had _this_ conversation somewhere a little more private."

She thought it over for a few seconds before nodding. Kurt was glad she did, because if he knew Blaine, he knew where they were going.

Kurt and Blaine walked slowly with Christina all the way to the North Corridor, patiently waiting and assisting her up the stairs that led to the building. Their dress shoes made a lot more noise that her flats, but it filled in the void of silence.

Finally, they made it. Last door on the right side. Kurt grabbed the door knob and turned it.

Christina smiled as she walked into the dust-covered room. Kurt had finally been able to bring in new curtains and keep the table and chair as clean as he could, but the rest of the room was still covered in grime. This didn't deter the smile that spread on Christina face, her wrinkles deepening on either side of her grin.

"Ah, yes," She lifted a hand, rubbing it down the frame of the door. "I remember this place all too well."

Kurt glanced over her head to share a secret smile with Blaine. He was glad to see how happy Christina was to see the old hall that once belonged to her and Anna. She walked into the hall, glassy eyes trailing over the dirty floor and walls as if they were made of gold.

She turned around to them. "Thank you for taking me here. I had almost forgotten about it. Or at least, tried to make myself forget." Christina took a step forward, starting to make her way back to the door. "Wait," Kurt said, "There's one more thing we want to show you."

Christina hummed in the back of her throat, arching a thin brow at the two young men standing in front of her. Kurt had seen that look from most of his teachers, and especially his dad. It was the kind of look that you developed over time as you got older; the kind that was solely used towards kids when you thought they were being suspicious.

"Trust us," Blaine said, "You'll like this."

Her face didn't twitch but she sighed, waiting for them to do something.

"Anna, come here, please." Kurt said, keeping his voice leveled. Christina mouth dropped open slightly and her eyes widened, not in shock, but in anticipation. Her pale green eyes flicked around, watching, waiting.

As always, Kurt saw Anna first; the shimmer of light and then the flooding of grey as she faded into existence. Blaine saw Kurt's eyes and followed his line of vision. It seemed that Christina and Anna were both oblivious to each other's presence.

"Yes, Kurt?"

Christina gasped and slowly spun around, unsure of what she would see. Anna's eyes widened when she realized there was another person in the room, even more shocked when the person didn't run away screaming.

Christina gaped at her for a moment before she slapped a frail had over her mouth, tears starting to fill her eyes. Anna stilled seemed confused on what exactly was going on. She floated down, setting her face leveled with Christina's.

They looked directly into each other's eyes. The woman shakily retracted her hand and whispered, "_Anna_?"

Anna gasped and jumped back. "Christina?! I-how-what-?" The ghoul flipped in the air, her hands smoothing over her skirt and blazer. It was amusing how easily flustered Anna got and Kurt couldn't hold back a chuckle. Anna kept flipping around, smoothing down her clothes and threading her fingers through her hair to try and get some knots out even though it's pointless.

"Anna…" Christina started, still in shock. "You're…you're still here…"

Anna paused in her ministrations and finally looked at Christina. Her face softened from the panic she had been in and she slowly floated back down to eye level. "Christina, you're…" She ran out of words. Anna placed a pale hand on Christina cheek and let out a choked sound when passed through her skin slightly.

"I'm old, I know. My grandkids make sure to tell me often." Christina chuckled, flinching away slightly from the freezing air that followed Anna's hand. Kurt could feel the broken remains of his heart sinking down, melting and coiling around his insides. He flexed his fingers from where they had been dug into his slacks and carefully swung his hand over to Blaine's, threading their fingers together. They turned to look at each other at the same time, sharing a wrenching look before turning back to look at the two women.

"…I'm just as old as you are."

"Yes, but on you, it doesn't show." Anna let out a nervous chuckle. She had sunk down to the point that her feet were flat against the floor. It made Kurt realize just how much taller Anna must have been compared to other girls in her time. Even with the weight of age on Christina, Anna still could have stood three inches taller than her.

"I'm so sorry." Christina muttered. "I'm so sorry for what happened to you. If I hadn't run, if I had stayed…"

"You can't blame yourself."

"But-but I know what happened-"

Kurt's brain momentarily short-circuited after hearing that. "What?"

"What?"

"What?"

The combination of each other's echoes would have sounded funny at any other time. Now, it was just an introduction to a bout of silence. All three of them waited for Christina to speak, subconsciously leaning towards her.

She sighed, knowing that she was about to tell them a horrible story.

"After highschool, Everett and I got married and a few years later, we had a daughter, Thad's mother. For awhile, Everett and I were happy; I still felt depressed from Anna's death, but Everett made things bearable for the next decade or so. A few months ago, Everett became severely ill. He'd always been a smoker and I suppose that finally caught up with him. He was dying and there was nothing the doctors could do to help him. On the day he died, I was sitting by his bedside. He had an oxygen mask on and his eyes were closed, so I assumed he was sleeping. I started to cry. I remembered saying something about how I had lost Anna and now I was losing him. He opened his eyes and looked at me. And then he told me." She let out a choked off sound. "He told me how he saw me run from the building crying and then how he saw you were following me and he said that he _knew_, he knew how you felt about me and he wouldn't let you ruin us and he…he killed you. And we he died, it was the first time I was glad he wasn't in my life." Thick tears were trickling down Christina's face. "I'm so sorry this happened to you, and if I had knew any sooner, I wouldn't have been with him, I wouldn't have loved him-"

"Shhh." Anna's see-through hands cupped her face. "You didn't know and don't be sorry. You did nothing wrong."

Kurt could see Anna starting to fade, but it was different this time. It seemed like every particle she was made of was starting to break of and blend into the air around her. A faint glow surrounded her and Kurt finally figured out what was happening.

"Goodbye Anna." He said, his voice cracking at the end. He thought he would have been prepared for this.

Blaine tightened his grip on Kurt's hand. "Goodbye Anna" He whispered.

Anna leaned in and pressed her lips gently to Christina's temple for a second. She looked over Christina's head to the two boys.

"Thanks for everything, boys."

She had almost blended into the air, the glow now focusing mainly in her face. Anna smiled sadly at them before returning back to look at Christina. She tried to say something, choking up a few times, before saying, "I still do, Christina. I still do."

The light flared then faded and the rest off Anna's form disappeared.

Kurt had a concoction of emotions inside him: the large black hole forming that was starting to pull his heart and a flare of light that spread and filled and fought against the bleakness. It was like his heart was breaking and fighting to keep itself together.

Christina let out a choked sob, clutching her cane even tighter. They allowed her a few minutes to collect herself, as well for them to realize what had just happened. Christina turned around to face them again. They didn't speak as they walked back to the dorm house, Blaine and Kurt clinging onto each other's hands like it was the only thing keeping them from falling apart. All of their faces were stained with tears, Christina's the most.

Stopping at the steps to the dorm house, Christina turned around and looked at the teen boys. Her gaze dropped to their linked hands for a second, a small smile forming on her face before she looked up again. "Thank you, Kurt, Blaine, for…everything."

"We didn't really do anything." Kurt said. "We just…showed you."

"I guess, that's what I needed all along. For someone to show me."

Kurt stuck out his right hand and was surprised when Christina pulled him closer and hugged him. He awkwardly hugged her back before she let go and hugged Blaine as well. She said farewell to them and slowly made her way down the path to the parking lot. They watched her leave, holding hands once again.

"You think she'll be okay? I mean, after all of this?" Blaine asked.

Kurt squeezed his hand. "I don't know. But I figure if we can be okay after all this, then she'll be perfectly fine."

*w* *w* *w*

Kurt had always hated funerals. Emotions running high, people in black, and tear stained faces that made the pit of his stomach fill with black sludge. Give in mind, they also made him think of his mother, but in general, funerals just weren't his most favorite things in the world.

Blaine had brought the small shovel and dug a hole under a bare cherry blossom. Kurt placed the bejeweled casket in the small pit and threw a handful of dirt over it before allowing Blaine to shovel dirt back in.

"Farewell, sweet prince."

"I know this is really upsetting for you, Kurt. What with all that has happened the past two weeks."

Kurt sighed, curling his fingers tighter around the rose in his hand. "Yeah. Though it got a bit drowned out by the fact that we almost got killed by a maniac. And Regionals. And Anna. But yes."

"At least we got something out of this."

Kurt turned to look at him, quirking a brow, asking him a silent question.

"We got each other."

Blaine smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling and his teeth forming a wide grin.

And Kurt knew they would be okay. Maybe this would be one of those things they would look back in a year and realize that it was the most exhilarating experience of their young lives. _A year? _Kurt thought. He looked over at Blaine, who was still smiling and holding his hand out, waiting for Kurt. A year was a long time and Kurt and Blaine had been in a relationship for a total of 8 days. But Kurt thought he could do it. He could see this, them, in a year, in two, in three.

He looked down at the tiny tombstone the Warblers had pitched in to make. Death seemed to surround his life at this point, and while it might have terrified any other person, Kurt felt some sort of strange comfort. The realization that life didn't just simply end when your heart stopped beating made every worry in the world seem just the tiniest bit smaller.

He grabbed Blaine's hand, and they walked past the small grave, under the cherry tree, and to Kurt's car.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Really like how this chapter came out. It reminds me of the first few chapters of this story.<strong>_

_**Going to write the epilogue tonight while I watch the new Doctor Who.**_

_**I LOVE YOU ALL SO MU-MU-MUCH**_


	21. Epilogue

_**This is it, boys and girls. The very end of a story that has basically consumed my life for a good year and a half. I put a good portion of my heart and soul (and my sanity) into this story.**_

_**I'm kinda glad I finished it before 4x4x04 aka the day of klainer hell so we can all just stay in this little mindset where Kurt and Blaine are together forever.**_

_**Right now, I'm watching the Avengers and I just love this movie so mu-mu-much. I could only watch this movie for the rest of my life and be perfectly fine.**_

_**AND NOW THE EPILOGUE *ACTUALLY SHEDS A FEW TEARS***_

* * *

><p>Heaven is a strange place. Anna concluded this after about the first ten minutes, of which she spent staring at the golden gate that seems to wrap around…what? A span of area that reaches past the horizon and far beyond.<p>

It's a combination of the clouds filled with angels that she had come accustomed to believe and field of plain, green grass littered with small houses.

She's still look sixteen, both a curse and a burden, but her injuries are gone. Her uniform is replaced with a simple white shirt and a flowing white skirt that makes everything almost too bright for her eyes. Everything's white and clean and fresh and it seems like everything is just a bit too sharp-looking for her taste but it doesn't deter her from going on.

Throughout time (or whatever, since it doesn't seem likely that time even reaches this part of the universe) she's come across some old friends, greeted them before going back to her own thing. She hasn't come across Everett, though she suspects that she never will.

She spends most of her time reading the books that she's missed in the past. Heaven has a lovely library; everyone should visit it if they have a chance.

It's a simple day (or what is considered 'day', when the giant ball of light that _isn't_ the sun hovers over them before disappearing) when one of the angels comes over to where she is reading. The angels seem to have almost bleak faces, fading into each other and having no dignified feature. They're not human like, more like a blank canvas for Him to test faces on.

"Miss Matthews, there's a new arrival looking for you. She says that she knew you?"

Anna looks up from her book before dog-earing the page (it doesn't matter because they return to a pristine condition afterwards) and following the angel. Her heart is racing (don't know how) because if it's who she thinks it is, then-

There at the entrance now, the high golden gate arching high above their heads and people are flowing in like a flood, as always. The angel takes her to the side where there are quite a few stragglers. The angels always ask people if there is anyone specific they would like to see first before they enter. Most answer 'God', which the angels can't allow, and others answer with names of relatives, children, friends.

It strikes her no 'real' surprise when she sees a short, strawberry-blonde teenage girl awkwardly wringing her hands. Of course Christina would choose to be sixteen again.

Anna spots her soon and sprints towards her.

"Hello, Christin-"

"Anna!" She rushes forward and practically tackles Anna, wrapping her arm tightly around the other girl. Christina shudders against her, wet tears dripping down to stain Anna's shirt.

"You're here, you're actually here." Christina mumbles into her shoulder.

"Yeah, I am." Anna whispers back. She wraps her arms around Christina and pats her back while the other girl cries.

Christina calms down after a few moments and Anna takes her off to where one field of grass starts.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too." Anna says. "So…how'd you die?"

"Cancer." Christina says curtly. Anna can tell that she doesn't want to talk about it. It's completely understandable. One needs a certain amount of time to shake of feeling of dying off.

"So…this is heaven? It's… what I expected."

Anna laughs. "This is how you expected heaven?"

"Well, I expected that it would be what I wasn't expecting."

"Expecting the unexpected?"

"Exactly."

Anna laughs again and it's like they're sixteen again and studying in the North Corridor at Dalton Academy and everything is fine. Everything is like it's supposed to be. Life and death have combined to this one fine moment in existence and it makes Anna's insides churn in the best ways.

She wraps her hand around Christina's wrist and starts to drag her towards the direction in which her mansion-size house for the rest of eternity is.

She won't make Christina to love her, doesn't expect her too, but she still loves Christina. Has and always will, through the rest of eternity and beyond and nothing is going to change that.

Anna had spent 50 years _alone_ before Kurt and Blaine had come along her path and then another allotted amount of time traveling around heaven, mostly by herself.

She wasn't going to let Christina go, not this time.

* * *

><p><em><strong>THE END.<strong>_

_**Author Notes:**_

_**That's it. That's the end. The end of a story that started from me asking 'Where the hell were Kurt and Blaine during 'Comeback'?' Try as I might, the idea bugged me and then I derped and wrote something that spiraled into some awesome**_

_**Thank you all for everything.**_


	22. End Notes

_**Okay, finally, some End Notes!**_

**1)** I was thinking of doing a sequel for LNTD/TWYMMF, but after a month of my highschool schedule and considering how I ended both stories, I realize that they both don't really need a sequel and therefore I am not doing one for either.

**However**

**2) I AM GOING TO BE WRITING A NEW STORY THAT I HAVE A STORY ABOUT**. Okay, so a couple months ago (during the summer) I was on one of my 'I need to stay up as long as I can to prove that I _can_' binges and I was flipping through the TV channels at 3 in the morning and came across 'Stuck In The Suburbs' on Disney channel. Now, being a child of the 90s and having the obsessive fangirl properties that we all have, I love this movie with a passion.

So, I was watching it, and about 2/3 of the way in, I suddenly screamed "OH MY FUCKING GOD I COULD WRITE A FIC ABOUT THIS WITH KURT AND BLAINE AND RACHEL COULD PLAY THE NEW GIRL AND AND' and the idea spiraled into something that I realize could be totally awesome.

But I also knew that I couldn't do it alone, what with my classes and my book, so I asked my bff Dayna to help me write and SHE SAID YES.

So, we will be doing a collaboration on a stuck in the suburbs!au of which we have already planned the first four chapters of.

I'm hoping the post the first chapter in the next week or so, SO KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN.

**And lastly**

**3)** This year is the year I write my book, but I need a bit of help from you peoples.

I set up a poll on my profile that has general descriptions of the book ideas I have. I'm not sure which one to start with so if you could go on over real quick and just look at it, that would mean so much to me.

Again, I'd like to thank all the people who took the time to look at my awful writing and read it. I love you all so much and you will never truly know how much you all mean to me.

Thanks.

_**~Mika**_


End file.
